Archives for April 2018

I did start the day with my usual to do-list, though I didn’t expect to get everything done.

Then we decided to have pizza for lunch. With wine. On the porch.

And then the weather was real nice. And I didn’t want to write or practice or sew. I just wanted to be outside. Especially since my MIL had left for a trip around noon and so I could sit on the porch without anybody making me feel bad about just sitting there. Also, I realized that the taxes aren’t due for another month or so. So I can totally do them later.

I started unplying the green polwarth that I had ruined when trying to do a cabled yarn. I didn’t put enough twist into the first ply and so it turned out very badly. But, I can untwist it again, and the put more twist into the first ply and make it a success again. Only it will take ages.

I spent the whole afternoon working on that and I’m still not finished.

Then there was pizza for dinner again, and conversation about quarks (the boy’s topic) and history and hatters and then we looked up stuff on wikipedia, as one does.

By then it was rather late so the boy and I only watched one episode of „How I Met Your Mother“. It was the last one ever, and I found it a little disappointing just like the first time I had seen it. The boy’s blanket is growing:

Early to bed. With a book.

Today there will be running and teaching (but not all that much because one student canceled), and music and writing and everything.

Another week beginning. We’ll see how that goes.

Twenty-three years ago my husband and I got married. Almost 25 now.

I woke up early, as usual, and got up just a little later than usual, and was just about to start writing when – to my great surprise – the boy showed up for breakfast. It’s highly unusual that he shows up earlier than my husband on a weekend.

I ran (and walked) my 8k and it went very well. Was even fun.

Afterwards I got ready to go out for lunch. I even blow-dried my hair.

We tried a new Greek restaurant and the food was very good. Wy too much, though. And then we got the first ice cream of the year.

Then back home, where I sat down and did nothing at all for the next ninety minutes. I eventually managed to write a litte but not much.

And then the boy and I watched some TV shows and I read some more (I think I read about half a book yesterday) and I managed to go to bed almost on time, even.

Today there will be a little yoga, and maybe taxes, and writing, and knitting, and reading. Maybe some music as well.

And no, not all that productive.

But I did the cleaning with minimal fuss. It seems that the weekly round of cleaning is not quite as big a deal anymore, and once I get started I don’t really mind it. That is definitely progress.

Of course, since I’m me, next thing I will stop cleaning altogether for no apparent reason.

I did teach quite a few students. And I started weaving the ends in on the Carbeth cardigan. There were too many ends for the bit of time that I had.

There was asparagus omelette for lunch which was really yummy, and also something I had never eaten before.

Then the watching of „Star Trek“ with the boy. No writing at all, meh.

And now it’s time for the weekend. We will go out for lunch because it’s our 23d wedding anniversary. I’m really looking forward to that. And there will be an 8K-run.

Not looking forward as much to doing the taxes but maybe I’ll do those tomorrow instead.

I slept for nine hours straight which is a bit weird these days. But I was really well-rested. Which meant that I felt all tired and un-energetic for the rest of the day.

I didn’t have to wait for the piano tuner because he showed up twenty minutes early. Not problem there. He was as flabbergasted as I was by the Life-Saver problem and has told me several things I can do if I have the problem again.

Then I went running:

Took a shower and helped my husband make a huge lunch:

That is chickpea curry, chicken curry and goutweed. I never had goutweed before, ever, and I didn’t even know that you could eat it until a short while ago. The yard is full of it. My husband actually picked the one that is growing inside the greenhouse. (No, nobody put it there, it just grows like crazy.)

I really like it. It’s somewhere between spinach and kale. So that was a new experience.

Then I spent a few hours procrastinating about writing and taxes, two things that must be avoided at any cost, it seems. Then teaching. Then a call to my mother, and bed.

I have given up on strength training for this week. I shouldn’t but that’s what I did.

Today there will be cleaning and music and lots of teaching, and no pizza for lunch because my husband doesn’t have enough time, and so we’ll make asparagus omelettes. Probably.

And then the weekend.

I mean, that’s actually where all my time goes. And reading.

Woke up with the alarm  – which has happened a lot lately – and got up a little late after publishing the blog post and reading email and such, breakfast and got interrupted while meditating. Which happens a lot. At least I tried, and I’m sure it makes a difference even if I’m only meditating for a few minutes.

I got running pretty early, which was very good:

It was really dry and the wind in the afternoon wasn’t helping. And this is how it looked at the end of my run:

And then I had the very first ever green asparagus risotto of my life. And it was rather delicious:

Because I went running rather early I had time to actually write a bit in the morning as well. Phew.

Then more writing, and music, and teaching.

Today the piano tuner will look at my LifeSaver-thing inside the piano. Of course, ever since I called him again the whole thing has been working without a problem. I decided to have him look at it anyways.

I hope that I will have time for a run, and then I want to do all.the.taxes before teaching. I guess my plan of doing some strength training is doomed right from the start.

Somehow this week is feeling much busier than it sounds. Weird.

It’s funny at the moment. I am really busy and doing a lot but I’m not getting anything done. Especially the writing. Which is the most important thing.

I did make a plan, though. I decided that I will write three books in the current series before returning to the one I started last November.

My husband was all confused when I tried talking writing strategy with him. So, In 2012 I started writing this urban fantasy series. I took me two years to get the first novel revised, then I wrote a rough draft of the second, started revising that and decided it was too bad, wrote the second one again, wrote a rough draft of the third one, and revised the second second one.

Then I dragged my feet. Then I found a nice person willing to read it and she confirmed what I already suspected – the first novel is not good enough to be published. Fixing this would mean more than a rewrite, I would have to take the ideas and the story and start from scratch. For all three novels. Totally doable but I have to say that after spending six years on this I am just a little reluctant to start the whole thing over yet again.

So I tried writing a chick-lit novel in November and failed, and the I started a paranormal mystery that should be the first in a series. I wrote the rough draft, and then instead of revising that I started yet another novel, another urban fantasy that I was really excited about, and that one I am still working on. I’m not quite halfway through the writing.

Now all the indie publishing advice says that you should wait with publishing until you have three in a series, and then you should release them one after the other.

My plan had been to finish the current book and then to revise the one I wrote before. But now I’m thinking it would be much better to write the first three books in the series I’m currently writing, plus a novella or short story on top, publish those and then maybe go back to the paranormal mystery and write a few books in that series. I will have to revise it anyway which means going back and reading it so reacquainting myself with the world and characters should be pretty easy.

The plan is a good one. Never mind that this book is seriously kicking my ass and is going very, very slowly.

And that – the very, very slowly part – is why I feel totally unproductive.

I did a lot yesterday.

I delivered a letter by bike because we’re out of stamps, and then I rode to the other end of town to get gas for the lawnmower. It’s always a little weird to pull up at the gas station on my bike with my little canister but I did it.

Then back home and off to the grocery store. A wonderful lunch on the porch:

(And no, I didn’t eat all of those mashed potatoes. They were good but that was way too much.)

Then I talked to the boy a little, and did the dishes and thought about writing and my story. I have to figure out what happens next and I just realized that I have an inkling of what might happen in the next two books as well. Very exciting.

I taught my students and one of them didn’t show up and I still couldn’t do anything productive because I was waiting for her.

Then I decided to skip strength training because I didn’t feel like it. No, I don’t think that’s a valid reason either.

And then I felt all lost and weird because I had decided to skip dinner (which is a whole other post for another day) and that upends my usual evening routine. Which apparently these days involves sitting in bed with the laptop telling myself that I will write more words any minute now until I’m too sleepy for that.

Fun!

Today there will be running and maybe going to the farmer’s market for potatoes and teaching quite a bit and more procrastinating about writing, I’m sure.

Yeah, life in progress.