What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

I've had "hang paintings" on my to do list for months. The problem is that I don't have frames. I've ordered some, but not all have come yet. The problem before that, though, is that I don't have nails in the walls to hang them from. Before that, the problem is that I don't want nails, I want to have an art rail of sorts. But before that, I need to paint the walls, and before that I need to patch them. And to have the wood for the art rail, I need some scrap wood from the shelves we will build. To build the shelves, I need the paint-on insecticide, so that we won't be making the woodworm problem worse, and I also need to paint the area behind where the shelves will go, which means I need to get up there and do whatever patching is needed. So, finally, today, I wrote up lists of what needs to be done to hang the paintings and what needs to be done to make the shelves. Then, I replaced "hang paintings" with "Decide on art rail style". Now, that is something that I can actually do.

I've been thinking a lot about why I like the Murderbot books and what _actually_ happens in them. I've also been thinking about how to come up with clever solutions to problems the characters face in stories. To help with this, I've been reading a book on problem solving. Last night, while listening to Murderbot write database queries to try to figure out a mystery (it is less boring than it sounds), I realized that a huge part of what the main character does is problem solving. More than that, it is the research for problem solving. I think this is the case to some extent for Dungeon Crawler Carl too. If I ask myself "What are they doing and why?", I think the answer often is "trying to get information to solve a problem" or "trying to get physical items to solve a problem". I think with both of these series, the story even includes them going back to revise their statement about what the problem really is, because they didn't understand it clearly at the beginning. Are most things that we would consider "plot twists" really just the iterative process of having gathered enough information to understand that your problem statement is insufficient or incorrect and going back to revise it? I'm going to have to think about this more. I think one of the things that I find stressful is that I can't figure out how to get the characters from "we have a problem" to "we have a solution to the problem", because I get overwhelmed because of my anxiety. My original plan was that I would use a problem solving process behind the scenes to solve the problems. However, now I'm starting to understand that it shouldn't be behind the scenes where the problem solving should happen. I should show the characters going through the process, which should include them making problem statements that are inaccurate.

Normally, I have characters be confused and not know what the answer is. I don't think I often have them misunderstand the problem. I think that partly this is a function of me being overwhelmed personally and unable to figure out what the heck is going on. I _think_ I am also more likely to say that I don't know what the answer is than have a problem statement that I'm not sure about. _This_ could be my mistake. I do kind of make guesses when I think about medicine ("could it be a magnesium problem?"), but I think I don't make a guess about other things. I just say, "I don't know!" and then throw up my hands. I think I have to be willing to make a guess, even if it is a bad guess, because that gives me someplace to start. There is a guy who writes a blog called "Putanumonit", and he advocates putting a number on things (ie giving things numerical values, even if those values aren't perfect), because you can work much more easily with a number than you can with an amorphous feeling. Probably the same is true of solving problems. You need to make a guess at defining the problem so that you have something to work with, or in this case, a place to start. You can then try to break down the problem into components and do research to see how accurate your problem statement is and if those components are the ones you should be focusing on.

Now that I've thought about this, I can see where to do have characters guess about what the problem is in the story I write with Joel. I'll have to think about it in my Mass Effect story, as the whole game series is that the main character knows what the problem is and no one will listen to her. In my story based on the game "Seduce Me", I do have some moments where the characters start defining the problem. However, I can see that they still really don't know what is going on in the same way I refuse to make a guess. I have characters who are stuck in another story at this exact moment too, because they aren't guessing. In the new, serial story I want to write, I'm in the planning stage, and I've also gotten stuck there on the "making a guess" stage for one of the plotlines.

Well, it would seem that now I have a lot to think about.

Joel and I talked about the woodworking plans I drew up, and I heard back from the wood seller, so the ball is back in my court as far as furniture-making goes. Next, I think I need to figure out which kind of wood we need (some is pretty simple, some less so) and decide where and how we will get it. That is much easier if we can get the huge sheets of plywood delivered from the wood seller.

I also finally fixed two bras that had bands that were too tight below my boobs. It was fine most of the time, but sometimes it would squeeze too tight, especially after I age a giant salad, and then I would get super anxious. Having those done is great, as my other bras are just falling to bits. I really need to replace the rotting spandex on them with better fabric, which I already have. However, I wanted to get these other, mostly finished bras fixed first. I don't have any painting projects this week, so I will try to force myself to get through some of this sewing that needs to be done (and the ordering of wood). If I can get two bras repaired on Tuesday and Wednesday, then I could try to maybe cut out a t-shirt or two on Thursday and Friday. I have at least two shirts that are rotting away. I'm also thinking of adding just a touch of design or something (applique with embroidery?) on my very plain yoga pants. I am _still_ trying to spruce up my style a little without making anything either more frumpy or more girly.