Winter is always busy around here. Not quite this busy. The first weeks of spring usually find me digging my claws into winter, holding on tight, and begging for a little more time. This year, I’m happy to settle down and settle in (though I do wish the weather would stay cool). I have lots of ideas for my blogs and my fiction writing. At long last, I may have time to act on them.
Here’s what I’ve been up to, both writing-related and not:
Have books, will travel
We kicked off winter with an eight-day Thanksgiving trip to Florida. I had just wrapped up the Kickstarter for Order from Chaos. Eager to get to work, I packed 10 reference books in one of my checked bags. The absurdity of this inspired me to stick pretty darn close to my 1k-per-day word count goal.
After Florida, we came home and immediately hosted a big party for my birthday, then spent a few days in Pennsylvania over Christmas.
The best part of winter
The first quarter of 2018 saw not one, but two unexpected ski trips on top of our usual week in Vermont. We spent the last week in January at Smugglers Notch with the whole family, a grown-ups-only retreat at Killington over a long weekend in February, and a surprise week back at Smuggs at the end of March. This embarrassment of riches proved that I’ll pull off any last-minute logistics in the name of skiing.
A bit less delightful were the number of school cancellations this winter. They’re a productivity killer for work-at-home parents. I haven’t fact-checked this, but I feel like we didn’t have a single normal five-day week between Christmas and Easter. In addition to the normal holidays and teacher inservice days, we’ve had cancellations for snow, ice, and wind (yes, wind).
Killing it with my writing goals
Somehow, I managed to finish a 60,000-word manuscript during all of this. I’m patting myself on the back for that one! With so much traveling and disruption to my day-to-day schedule, I’m really impressed with the amount of writing I did. In addition to finishing Order from Chaos and sending it off to the editor in March, I polished up two short stories and reworked my novel’s query letter. Whew!
Of course, something had to give. I backed off from blogging. Once I wrapped up major work on Order from Chaos, I felt free to expand both blogs. After a long period of storing up ideas, I’m excited to put more energy into this space — my personal/writing blog — as well as The ADHD Homestead.
From one outdoor adventure to the next
On the personal side, I’m saying a reluctant goodbye to ski season, and hello to everything else outdoors. I’ve started seeds for my vegetable garden. It’s almost time to get out my paddleboard again. I’m training for a 10-mile race in June. My son keeps asking for a camping trip. It seems there is life after skiing.
I hope your winter was as fulfilling and productive as mine — busy, while still leaving time to recharge. As we move further into spring and summer, look for new features on this blog, and be sure to sign up for my new email list. It’ll contain similar content to the blog, but a little more fun and nitty-gritty. Plus, everyone who signs up between now and May 22 will be entered to win a free copy of Order from Chaos.
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