My week of travel for work turned out to give me just enough breaks to eat (while working) and sleep (no more than seven hours). The net result, I seem to have brought home a cold. I still had to go into the office Friday because we moved locations on Saturday, so my optimistic hope last week that I would be able to squeeze in story time went unrealized. I’m really glad I didn’t try to commit to NaNoWriMo this year, even though there’s apparently a badge for managing 50K words even if they’re not all on one story.
A week off means my goal of finishing Fire to Dragon this month is likely a pipe dream–though I got back to it yesterday and closed out dealing with another two chapters of beta reader feedback. I’m now 3/5ths the way through that process. I’m not sure if my betas got worn out or my writing got stronger, but there are fewer big things to fix as I proceed through those files. If I could at least finish that process by the end of the month, that will have been one major undertaking completed.
Naturally, having been apart from me for the week, hubs sent me more emails, too. One encouraged me to imagine some lovely vacation options, specially geared for people like us who like to stay away from the crowds. Another was a more thoughtful take on the article from Cracked I linked to several weeks ago. This one spoke of the perennial class divide that drives some of the worst political divisions. That said, it is eerie to me that November 9 turns out to have been the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht AND the day the Berlin Wall came down… in 1989. (I was a freshman in college without access to a TV. When my mom called to tell me the news, I honestly thought she was pranking me.) The nature of fear, indoctrination, and persistent denigration of “the others” ought to have been object lessons from several historical angles on that day. Apparently, we still have some learning to do on that score.
Which leads me to this linguist’s love letter to profanity. And bad tips for beginning writers.
I’ve already written in one “therapeutic cussing session” into one of my books. This may be happening more regularly.
😀
If it means that one day, we finally enjoy mutual understanding and respect because we trust in each other’s honesty, I will have contributed something good to the world. In the meantime, it’s back to word-herding for me. And checking in with my fellow ROW80ers. Until next week, for those of you in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving.