Contrasts make for good writing.
It also makes for good living.
When I was a college student, I hung a poster on my door that gave examples of this very thing. Examples: "Going out at night becomes dull without nights of staying home by the fire" and "Having a cold means you get to stay in bed and eat, and having the flu means you get to stay in bed and lose weight."
When I've spent a lot of time alone with projects, it's refreshing to spend time with people. When I've engaged quite a bit with people, I need the rejuvenation of alone time.
As a writer, I like writing about those things that touch the human spirit. As a features writer, I show the light by focusing on the positive. As a fiction writer, I point to the light by highlighting the dark.
Last weekend, I had a good portion of a weekend off. This past weekend, I took off almost two and a half days, and it was the most wonderful two days I've had in a very, very, very long time.
Here's what "wonderful" felt like to me:
I worked an intense 13-hour Friday without a break to make it home for a pizza dinner with Joshua, Amber, and three of my grandchildren. While everyone debated on who should cut up the watermelon (no one wanted to do it), Sue Midlock, the illustrator for The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series, showed up for coffee, bringing a tub of strawberries and a tub of whipped cream and leaving the watermelon conundrum for another day. (We, meaning "not me," eventually cut it up that weekend and ate it. Yes, it was delicious).
Sue and I sat for nearly three hours at Barnes and Noble drinking coffee and talking about reading and writing, our projects, things we liked, her idea and her treat. It was lovely!
I arrived home to find that my copy of Fifteen Years by Allison Rios that I had won had arrived so I read a third of it then and there.
On Saturday and straight into Sunday, stopping only for showering and sleep, I read through and copy edited the fifth and last book of Before the Blood, the prequel to the Bryony trilogy, so now it's ready for the final formatting and ordering a proof copy. As a reader, I found it to be an amazing read, one of those books that lingers in your head.
So before heading to the next project, I needed an brain intermezzo. I was going to get some work done, but Timothy was working on the Sue's Diner page of the BryonySeries website, so we consulted on that for awhile.
Then I settled down to work on Phyllis' memoir, which is now in a pretty good first draft status, good for me because she is coming to the house next Sunday with photos, and good for her because she is excited to see it.
Rebekah and I took off for a walk. When we came back, Jasmine and Timothy were roasting s'mores on the back porch. Timothy asked me if I wanted to roast my own. Nope! I pulled up a little chair to gaze at the fire (lovely), decided the scene needed a mouse, ran inside for Bertrand, AND THEN, settled down with my crocheted mouse to eat two s'mores (because the first one didn't melt the chocolate properly, and that should not be my last memory of a s'more).
On Sunday I walked and shook a veterans hand, finally watched the 2014 "What We Do in the Shadows" (LOVED IT!) and then settled down for about six hours of work. I didn't get it all done (which will make for a stressful week), but certainly I'm farther ahead than if, say, I'd been slothful and taken the entire day off.
Besides, I had another idea for another book (or series) brewing inside me. Not enough to not work. But enough that I could jot thoughts as I worked as ideas came to me.
I also veeeeery gradually worked my way back into social media.
And I remembered veterans.
I finished reading Fifteen Years and will review it in an upcoming LocalLit newsletter.
Between storms, I ran up to work to check voice messages at work (none, how about that?), took a walk with Rebekah, and, before bed, watched some"Doom Patrol (It's very good) with Daniel.
Yes, I know it's not an exciting weekend by some perspectives. And it wasn't "exciting" for me, either.
But it was marvelous. And just what I needed.
I hope the same is true for you, too.
Hello, Tuesday. :)
Illustration by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt for "Bryony."
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