Another Monday morning that catches me rather bleary-eyed and unprepared. Second cup of coffee is on its way in and I’m not much better off than when I got up!
-Despite having to work through almost all of my Saturday, attending a memorial service for a really good guy I knew through work, having to mow my lawn on Sunday, and Skyping with the Catbird last night, I managed to work through over 50 manuscript pages over the weekend. Since starting the actual revision work (as opposed to reading and making notes) I’ve cut 4,000 words and 15 pages, tightening things up considerably. What do I like better, drafting or crafting? It’s hard to say. There’s nothing like the rush of pouring words out on the page. Then again, there’s nothing like polishing something to a high shine and smoothing out the rough edges.
-I woke from a dream this morning in which both my parents were alive. I didn’t see my father; he was running his trains off in another room. It’s very unusual for me to dream about my parents. I have had several dreams in the past (including two in the recent past) about their house, of all things, but not usually them. Maybe it was all the pictures of people with their mothers splattered all over Facebook on Saturday.
-The graduation photos have started appearing: kids of friends and family who have no business leaving college so soon are getting out! The Magpie graduates officially next week; she came home on Friday (though she has one more paper to turn in yet). It’s interesting how, not all that long ago, she loved being in college and didn’t want to think about life after, and now she’s happy to be out. In true Magpie fashion, she’s skipping the university graduation, though we are going to the much more intimate departmental ceremony. I’m not heartbroken by this decision at all.
-Music! Because, why not? From a performance 39 years ago (!) yesterday.
–That’s all I got for today. How was your weekend?
6 Responses
It doesn't seem all that long ago that you were dropping Magpie off at college. Crazy!
She's graduating already? Geez.
I guess the fun starts for her now–finding a job.
Good job on getting 50 pages done so quickly. My revising/editing is going much slower. I'm only about a third of the way through (and I keep adding pages–I write really thin first drafts). The story is getting much better, but I'll be glad when I'm finished. For some reason it's more exhausting work than writing a first draft.
Best of luck to Magpie.
I'm in the revising stage myself with a new ms. I wrote it in 13 weeks so a lot of polishing is required! Good luck with yours.
-Donna–tell me about it!
-Stacy–yeah, she's conveniently ignoring the job part–for now! I really put my nose to it this weekend when I wasn't doing other stuff. My family doesn't recognize me today!
-Donna–Lucky thirteen! I hope your revisions are going well!
How exciting your daughter's going to be out of college and starting real life! Wishing her the very best! It's interesting about the parent-dream. I sometimes have those too and have no idea what they mean – probably something about feeling uncertain about decisions and wishing for guidance. Have a good weekend, Jeff!
-Lexa–I hadn't thought of that interpretation about my parents, it's a good possibility. It could also be that events like this (graduation) are times when I really miss them.