Interruptions (Odds & Ends)

 Had a busy weekend. My nephew's wife is expecting, and her family hosted a baby shower for her Saturday morning. My mom stayed with me from Friday night through this morning, and I had to drive clear across town to meet her and then drop her off since she drove down with my brother. 

The baby shower was lovely, held in a quaint river town founded in 1854 with a well-kept, historic main street with mid-19th century brick buildings. My nephew's wife is just glowing in her pregnancy, feeling good, and ready for baby! It's exciting to know a new family member will be here soon. I also enjoyed talking to my niece who shared stories of raising her son who just turned two (he's pretty ornery!). and of course, it led me to reminisce about raising my daughter. She really was a good baby and though she did get into a bit of mischief, overall she was a breeze to parent.

Instead of taking the interstate home, my mom and I decided to take another route, and we passed by fields of corn, pristine farms with red and white barns, and hilly, green countryside. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon, went for ice cream after supper, then sat outside and talked and talked, while watching the birds and the foxes. I didn't sleep well last night, was up far too early, and had to take my mom back to meet my brother so they could head home. I took a long nap this afternoon and my body is just exhausted.

So. No writing for me this weekend, though I may try tonight if I can stay awake long enough. I'm not beating myself up about not writing, either, as it was more important to me to spend time with my mom and enjoy her company than work on my novel. 

I'm in a good spot with the manuscript, and plan to finish it this week. I have a big project to tackle at work - not looking forward to that - but otherwise, no big plans for tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be atrocious - in the high 90s and breaking 100 degrees several days. No, no, no. That is why I desperately want to move to Scotland for the summer each and every year - my body cannot handle these temperatures, and neither can my emotional health. 

I'm going back to physical therapy for my pelvic pain. Have a month of appointments booked. None of my doctors bothered to tell me the consequences of all the pelvic surgeries I've had - namely the scar tissue - that has now become incredibly problematic. Going in to remove it will do nothing as it will just come back, so it's intense physical therapy probably once a year for...well, who knows?

I have a paper due on August 1 for an edited volume on fascism - the last remaining project of my PhD studies. I am trying to pare it down to 9k words and have only about 400 words yet to cut. I can do it! (I hope). 

Oddly enough, I don't miss graduate school. I enjoyed class discussions and researching my topic (which I feel is very, very timely), but I truly feel I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing: writing my fiction. I made a promise to myself to focus solely on it, something I haven't done for probably 20 years. Instead, I've always had other writing projects on the go: nonfiction articles, nonfiction books, freelance book reviews, and other freelance projects. It is rather nice just to focus on my fiction. My day job as an editorial assistant doesn't involve much writing, but it does involve proofreading and copyediting.

It feels good to have kept my promise to myself! I've never written a novel this fast before - and I'm rather proud of myself for how quickly it's come together. It will need some substantial editing, but I know I can turn this book into an incredible story. It has a hell of a hook and I'm very hopeful it will catch an agent's heart. This time around, I want a literary agent who will be just as excited about my work as I am. I feel that's crucial.

Here's a few pictures of my backyard birds! I so enjoy watching them.