A Regular Check-in

This was almost the first normal week in our temporary set up. My mother was on fall break, so that's what kept it "special." Still, I got to see what work with the Drew Monster glued to my ankles would be like. I got to start some semblance of a writing schedule. I got to see just how much time in the day I would have when I wasn't working. Overall, it was a pretty good week.

Granted, I think Mark and I are pretty excited to figure out what a normal week in our own house would be like, but it's nice to not be in the insanity of moving or flying back to the DDJ. I don't travel again until the second week in December. Praise all that is good and holy in this world.

The biggest realization of this past week is that it takes a lot more energy and attention to watch Drew in my mom's house. She's got lots of stairs and things he can get into that he shouldn't. We're trying to baby proof as we go, but gates don't work (there's a little ridge of panelling by each doorway that only allows the gate to snugly fit into the bottom of any doorway, not the top; Drew figured out right away how to work his fingers into the gap and pull those suckers down), and he's very good at reaching and grabbing these days.

As for my writing, I've got a short story that's ready to submit, one more that needs a revision and then I'll submit it, another that I'm finishing up, and then there's Carson's Learning. My mother the creative writing teacher is going to help me figure out if I can find a market for it. I'm hoping to focus on the short fiction this week to get it all on its way somewhere, and then go back to Shadow of Zehth. There's still a slight glimmer of hope that I could finish a draft by the end of the year, but I'm going to be surprised if it happens. Regardless, I should have the draft finished and the revisions done to start submitting the novel by the end of the summer. That'll be the primary goal of next year, to get that sucker out.

Oh, and I'm almost done going through all of my posts to label them now that I've upgraded to Blogger Beta. One thing I've noticed: damn, I could be a self-important, annoying, arrogant little twerp in 2003. Hopefully that's changed. I feel like it has, just from the array of things that are important to me now versus what they were then. But I'm sure I'll go back and read my 2006 posts in a few years and do a decent amount of eye-rolling.