At 9:30 a.m. I'm sitting on the back deck with my laptop on my lap, a tall glass of iced tea by my side, and my dog curled up at my feet. She's a wet dog a the moment, having finished our morning walk with a plunge in the creek. Our neighbors have been mowing the meadow behind our house, and during our walk Hopeful went running after the birds picking through the hay, coming back empty-handed but with little flecks of meadow stuff stuck to her coat.
I'm happy to be working outside before the sun gets too high and the neighbors start mowing again. It's great to listen to the birds in the cool morning shade, but most of all I come out here to get away from the phone. I have power out here but no phone line, so clearly I'll have to post these comments later when I get connected again. Meanwhile, I'm free from the demands of e-mail and robocalls offering me great deals on windows or insurance or mortgage refinancing. With the phone out of reach, I can focus on work.
Which will be what, exactly? This morning I'm taking Joy's advice and fiddling with a little fiction, just a treat to get the creative juices flowing. With this huge backlog of prose needing revision, I'm challenging myself to submit something for publication once each week throughout the summer. Friday will be submission day, and this week ought to be easy because I have a few short things that just need a little tweaking before they can be sent off to appropriate publications. This Friday is also the day I ought to hear whether my proposal has been accepted for a really exciting conference in the fall, and that decision will influence my scholarly research and writing for the rest of the summer. This week, thought, I'll focus on short nonfiction pieces and a little fiction. May as well start the summer with something fun.
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