The Joy of a Good Library and Other Thoughts

I'm working on a few articles for an upcoming historical encylopedia and I had to pay a visit to my university library on Sunday. I'd forgotten how wonderful it can be. It's shelves hold so many wonderful books and other resources that I could literally wander the aisles for hours upon end. But since I'm under deadline (and hubby was with me), I had to just get the books I needed and go. Of course, I ended up getting a few more than I planned and I was quite grateful for hubby's strong arms. :-) Thankfully, I was able to get a library card so I could take my stash home. There's something about carrying an armload full of books to your car that is a happiness in itself. No wonder I became a writer! I can't remember a time when I haven't had stacks of books around me. I know my mother read to me before I could read and when I could finally do that job myself, I was involved in our library's summer reading program every year. Going to the library filled me with a sense of purpose and excitement - there were so many books to be read! And I still have that same love today. :-)

On Writing, Disarray, and Focus

Didn't do much this weekend, but I did manage to watch The Lake House with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves - loved it. Watch it if you get a chance. Also took down a few more Christmas decorations. Strange. It took me forever to put them up and it's taking me forever to take them down.

Edited a bit of the novel, but I'm finding that having my office in a complete state of disarray is really affecting my creativity. Since we have a small construction project going on right where my office is, you can imagine what it looks like. In fact, I just might have to take a picture to show you just how bad it looks. And I think that's why I've been rather grouchy and gritchy lately. My writing place isn't functional right now. Can I write in other places? Of course. But my desk is my main area. I've got boxes everywhere and I'm not even sure what's in each one. More than that, though, is that I haven't worked on my novel for several days now. And that is probably the main reason I've been in a mood. If I don't write, watch out.

Compounding this is my lack of exercise. I didn't make it to Curves once last week and I'm really feeling it. I'm lethargic, want to sleep more, and just generally do not feel emotionally or physically very good. So I'm off to exercise after work today. I also allowed myself to indulge a little too much over the holidays. This last week wasn't too bad, but I definitely have been a bit too liberal with the sweets. That must stop. And it will. I just have to regain focus. It got a little blurry there over the holidays, but I'm sure that's happened to a lot of us. And it seems that if I get my health in focus, the rest falls into place.