The State of the Writer’s Life

Wow, I’ve been so preoccupied, I haven’t even opened this website in the last week. It’s time I wrote something, no?

I say preoccupied because I can’t honestly claim busy. Certainly I’m doing things, but some of those involve computer games. Darn distractions.

I’m sad to report that Shipbuilder did not win the Reader’s Choice award in Speculative Fiction. I thank all of you who voted for it, and I’m going to be content that it was even nominated. That’s an honor in itself. I get to keep the nifty “nominee” badge, so good going, right?

So what has kept me so preoccupied these days, besides computer games? Oh, let me count the ways:

1. The weather has warmed up (without really ever getting cold) and this means that weeds are putting in their appearance. It’s amazing how they manage to do that with no rain. We’re all caught up in conserving water and fretting about the coming shortage of food grown in California (most of what America eats, evidently), but by golly, those darn weeds pop up no matter what. At least we can eat the dandelions.

So I’ve been weeding, among other general yard cleanup chores. Our landscaping is old, raggedy, and thirsty, but the place at least looks sort of neat.

2. I’ve been teaching a childbirth course, which ends this Thursday. It’s always exciting to come to the end, but I’ve also just started a private course with one couple. I have two more classes for that one. I’m teaching in their home, which adds prep and driving time to my schedule.

3. I’m still putting lots of thought and planning into the half-hearted vegan diet. Himself has already thrown in the towel, but I haven’t, so this means he still gets most of his dinners vegan. Fortunately for him, I’m still fasting three days a week, so he can chow down on meat those days. Tonight, in spite of it being St. Patrick’s Day, I’m going to fix a curry-tomato-lentil soup, along with a carrot/kale/golden-beat slaw, loosely based on this recipe. I will, however, wear green all day.

Today’s relapse from the vegan diet will have something to do with Bailey’s Irish Cream and Jameson whiskey.

Speaking of the diet, I just got down to 121 pounds. This has been a difficult goal to reach, so I’m happy about it. I wasn’t sure it was ever going to happen.

4. I’ve added yoga to my exercise routine and I’m enjoying it very much. I use my WII Fitness Coach for most of it. I can program it for 15 to 75 minutes. Most often, I go with 60 minutes. I work up a sweat, but never feel wiped out. I’m surprisingly flexible for someone approaching 60 and with a tricky spine. That’s kind of fun.

The luster is gone from those body-sculpting classes I was taking. I’m still going, but this is the type of exercise that never gets easier for me. It’s good cardio and weights, which I know is important for all kinds of reasons. It’s getting harder to make myself leave the house on those mornings, though. And sometimes it hurts my back. I have to be careful about that.

5. I’m writing up a couple of presentations that I’m giving. One is for a writing workshop –  just a five minute thing with some writing prompts for the participants. The other is a 20 minute childbirth workshop. I really need to get cracking on that one.

So that’s a partial list of what I’ve been up to in between computer games. And I’ve just managed to write a blog post!

What’s keeping all of you busy these days?