Blog No. 338
I’m officially in a period where the non writing stuff is busier than the writing stuff. Looking at my calendar, this should last at least until the end of the month. That’s not to say that I won’t get any writing done. I did a good (or okay I think) 1800 words on Monday. That said, I don’t have another free day until next Monday. I rely on my scheduled writing sessions to make progress, and without those, I slip farther and farther behind. I didn’t get any done last weekend because a friend of mine had a wedding, and I was graciously invited. The best part was that I got to see a bunch of folks who I hadn’t seen since a wedding a year ago (including the groom). It was a blast from the past with Arvin coming in on the Friday night (really Saturday early morning) the wedding on the Saturday, and recovering until a mother’s day pizza dinner on Sunday (which was nice, as dinner with my folks always is).
I’d love to say that it was all fun. It mostly was, but I haven’t danced since last year’s wedding, and I may have gone overboard. (Side note. I am a terrible dancer who came to it late in life when a bunch of friends (the very same from last year’s and this year’s weddings) really got into it and dragged me along). I mostly only dance when I’m with a combination of those friends, and even though I’ve been pretty good with going to boxing (and just now starting to get some exercise in on other days) I pushed it (real good). Couple that with drinking more than my occasional two beers and sleeping in until one on Sunday and I did something terrible to my back. I’m feeling better now, but it’s just one more reminder of how I’m not a kid anymore. At least I had fun, then I had pizza with my folks on Mother’s Day. Also nothing to complain about.
Now the challenge is fitting in a bunch of boring (and expensive) tasks ranging from easy and annoying to time consuming, around my suddenly busy day job schedule and finding time for writing, finishing my review of Christian’s book, and the other edits I’ve agreed to do. The edits are important for several reasons. Mostly it’s because they are for people who have done edits for me and have helped me get books out in one way or another and doing reviews can really help you find things that you didn’t notice you do in your own writing. It’s potentially labour intensive, though, and anything that has to do with writing that isn’t writing isn’t much fun. I’m not the only one in that boat, though, but I am already (and predictably) behind my schedule for the first draft of the Invasion Novel.
Thankfully, I have no events until the last half of June. I’ll be at the Downtown Windsor Farmer’s Market on Saturday June 15th, and I’m the solo host of the next ChiSeries Windsor Reading on Wednesday June 26th. Other than getting my script done for hosting (and some web marketing stuff I do with Christian) they should run themselves. That leaves the major hurdle as the day job, which is also predictable. It always happens this time of year. I think I just have to do what I always say I should do—buckle down, take advantage of my evenings, and keep moving forward. The detritus will fall away eventually. It always does (because I have to deal with it, but still). I may be behind on the novel, but I am not so far behind that I can’t catch up if I have a really good run. I’m just going to miss those dancing friends again, even though they lead to me hurting my back.
Ben Van Dongen 