on Reading and Writing and All the Speculation In Between
I haven’t looked at any of my recent words in the past three weeks, so when I got a note from my editor that she is expecting to finish her job this week, I had another one of those internal push-pull conversations about whether I should try to start something new now, or just keep…
My mental vacation continued this week with a day of actual vacation. I took Friday off to extend my Memorial Day weekend to four days. My thought was that there have been so many little honey-dos on my list for so long, maybe if I had enough days in a row at home, I might…
What was once cause for panic and dismay, this week was more of a sense of accomplishment and celebration: I wrote no new fiction words. It’s always an odd place to be at the end of a project. Should I start right away on something new? Should I wait to get into something new until…
It was the week that felt like a year. It started very well with an intimate evening of music, listening to Eddie Jobson and Marc Bonilla pay tribute to prog rock greats John Wetton and Keith Emerson by telling stories about them and interpreting their songs rather impressively for a two-person gig. An actual date…
I’ve been worrying about my latest dental procedure for so long, it’s odd to be on the other side of the experience–and it wasn’t nearly as terrible as previous extractions have been. Except that my niece was kind enough to share her cold virus, and it kicked in about the same time as I was…
I’m beginning to suspect that really, there is no such thing as a “normal” week–or even one that falls neatly into the expectations of what the intersection of my work and social calendars tell me will be on the agenda for the week. My work hours can easily expand all out of proportion to my…
You might have noticed last week’s unexpected absence. I certainly did. At the risk of being overly graphic, some kind of gut bug hit me hard enough to make me cry in pain while spraying poop for the first time in my life. So any thoughts of blogging were entirely subsumed by the worry that…
I’ve seen pictures of this tenacious tree a number of times over the years, so this week I figured it was time to share it. I notice I’ve blogged regularly on the topic of not giving up; indeed, it seems an element of stubbornness is required of anyone who endeavors to string together more than…
One of my biggest challenges recently has been to recognize that I have a new, different “normal”. I’m moving more slowly, with more aches; I’m writing more slowly, with more pauses; and I’m weighing more, in heart and body. I’d like to believe I can get back to where I was, so there’s something gently…
I keep imagining I’ll get back on the pace of writing several thousand words in a week, and keep watching my weeks slip through my fingers with an excess of worries and work. While one friend is struggling with chemo, another two are prepping for surgery, mom’s recovering from surgery, and the friend whose surgery…