Friday Fricassee

Well, I almost made it through an entire week of not-being-home-at-night.  Last night, I just couldn't handle another evening of not being showered and in my jammies by 7:30.  (That's just who I am.  It works especially well in the winter, when we've got cozy fires in the hearth.)  So I stayed home from ballet class and worked on revisions.

I guess I'm a homebody in general, which drives Mr. A mildly mad, considering he'd be happy to travel the world.  Isn't that a sort of writerly thing, though?  Especially when we're in the midst of an exhilarating draft (well, okay, I don't have those, but some of you do) or intense revisions or are working to a deadline--there's just nothing so wonderful as curling up in a favorite spot and playing with words.

Mind you, sometimes "favorite spot" extends to "local coffee shop" or "quiet corner in the library", but overall, it's the leave-me-alone-and-don't-ask-me-to-go-anywhere-because-I'm-writing that seems to be a hallmark of our kind.

Anyway.  After three consecutive evenings of chorus rehearsal, ballet class, and a theatre performance respectively, I needed my evening-in-jammie-pants.  And it was productive, so I'm happy.

This revision round has been going remarkably well, too--up until 2 days ago, when I got stuck for the first time.  Not bad, considering I was already on chapter 29, but frustrating, because I was sort of liking the experience of, well, revising-without-getting-stuck.  I officially unstuck myself yesterday afternoon, though, so all is well.

 I was grateful to receive feedback from 2 more of my wonderful readers this week, and their responses have got me on track and inspired for my second pass through this revision round.  (May I just say that I have these AMAZING PEOPLE who read my stuff?  I'm so blessed!)

In thinking through where I'm going with my current chapter this morning (while putting on make-up--because brainless activities lend themselves to this sort of thing), though, I think I've got another small snag to work out.  It's not as tricky as the one I just worked through, but it still makes me go "ugh".  I'm to the point where I just want this project to be shiny and finished.  Time to hunker down!

Except, I've got another night out on my agenda--Mr. A and I are going to a ballet performance.  (Yes! He is coming with me to the ballet for the second time.  Do you feel the earth trembling?)  That means striving for a super productive afternoon, so that I can stop what I'm doing and feel good about it.  I know you know what I mean!

You might also want to know that I have chosen the 24 winners for ON THE BLOCK.  Whew!  At the very end, I found myself going back and forth between this "maybe" and that, trying to decide which of the remaining maybes needed to be yeses.  It came down to that slight stomach drop that said, "Yeah, I'm resonating with this one."  I'll talk more about this process once the winners have received their notice (November 2).

And that's it from my end!  To all my jammie-loving writerly colleagues: have a wonderful, comfy weekend!