Feels like Monday
A few days off my schedule and I already feel rusty!
How about a quick catch-up?
What I’m watching: Scott & I are doing a Deadwood rewatch in anticipation of the movie.
What I’m listening to: Elise Joy’s podcast, the On Time episode
What I’m working on: An issue of the Arrow for Brave Writer (next year’s book lineup is soon to be revealed—it’s awesome); a newsletter for my advocacy gig
What’s happening with my novel: It’s in copyediting! I should get it back in June. Got to preview the cover copy last week, which makes it feel super real. (Pub date is August 2020, so there’s still a long way to go. But the hard part is over now—for me, at least.)
What’s next after this book? —Still deciding. Have a picture book manuscript I’ve been playing with for a long time. Am writing lots of poems these days. Giving myself a bit of breathing room before I dive into the next novel. Would also like to work on a book of literary essays I’ve been wanting to compile—pulling some material out of my archives here and expanding, elaborating. I’ve always been wild for books-about-books like A Reader’s Delight or Howard’s End Is on the Landing, and heaven knows I’ve done the legwork for one of my own!
What’s blooming: Poppies, peonies, foxglove, irises galore.
What I’m looking forward to: The annual Index-Card-a-Day Project. Fun, low-pressure, colorful, creative. I’m thinking this year I might use my houseplants as a loose theme—incorporating drawings of each one into my ICAD experimentation.
What’s being discussed in our homeschool: Ancient China, including folklore; fractions; poetry; astronomy; carnivorous plants.
What are YOU up to this week?
Susanne Barrett says:
This week is going to be sane, unlike last week. This week I’ll be finishing grading the final MLA research essay for Brave Writer (it was submitted late because of a family emergency), discussing Much Ado About Nothing with my Shakespeare Literary Analysis class on Brave Writer, firming up final travel plans for the BW staff retreat/training next month (are you attending? I’d so love to meet you at long last!), catching up on some grading through my essay grading service, finishing a calligraphy project for our neighbors, get our youngest (age 19) enrolled at Miramar College as they have some awesome non-credit courses for students with learning challenges, autism, etc., and enjoy spring in Pine Valley!
The mountain lilacs are still in bloom, and my roses are going bonkers. I have planted pansies so far because they can handle the occasional spring freezes (like the one we had two nights ago) and will add snaps to my porch pots. Then will come the more delicate annuals which I’ll plant mid-June. We finally have SUN today after such a soggy winter and spring. But I love having a green lawn all the way into June (not always the case) as we don’t water since the water fees in our wee town are astronomical!
I have been enjoying your spring photos so much!! All those flowers–wow!! I’ve always wanted to visit Portland just to experience Powell’s, but after seeing your photos, I need to visit for the gardens as well!
Have a lovely week!
~Susanne 🙂
On May 29, 2019 at 12:06 pm
Penelope says:
Praying my way through, this week as every week! Phew. We’re shifting into high gear for Theatre for the teens, medical whatnot minor and major for all three of us. Spring has been wetter than normal and cooler than normal, praying my way through that, too!
On May 29, 2019 at 2:01 pm
Melanie Bettinelli says:
I’m reading The Young Wizards series by Diane Duane and am really loving it. Also The Chosen by Chaim Potok and The Glass Universe by Dava Sobel. And poetry by Gillian Allnut and Ursula Le Guin.
I haven’t been watching much the last few weeks, but Bones has been my binge of choice lately.
I’m listening to Seamus Heaney reading Beowulf. And to the Moby Dick Big Read podcast– Melville is a genius! And to The Four Story Mistake in the car. And Peter Duck, when Dom is in the car– the kids are adamant about introducing Daddy to the Swallows and Amazons universe and he’s loving sharing it with them. Also to the Daily Poem podcast.
I’m writing poetry and not much else. Trying to write something about Young Wizards and a few other books. Working on school planning and vacation planning.
We’ve got irises and lupines blooming. And the rhododendron and azaleas and lilacs.
The index card a day project looks intriguing.
Our homeschool is discussing the Renaissance and St Thomas More. Bella is volunteering once a week with a group that is field testing a LARP/Wilderness Survival program with an Outlaws of Sherwood Forest theme. The other kids are envious. We’re also in the middle of Down to the Bonny Glen since the younger ones didn’t remember the Martha books. Charlotte is next. Bella got water colors and is bringing her sketchbook and paintbox and charcoals everywhere and sketching up a storm. She’s doing a series of beach watercolors when we go to the farmer’s market every week. And she’s doing a lot of grocery store sketches, too. Sophie, Bella, and Anthony have a book club of sorts going. It’s so fun to see them talking furiously about their favorite scenes. And the big girls are writing Star Wars fanfic. And stories about time traveling penguins. Bella has become a cloud watcher thanks to your recommendation of the Cloud Collector’s Handbook. And Sophie is wrestling with exponents. Man, I need to get back into my learning notes habit.
On May 30, 2019 at 7:44 pm
Jane says:
HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Young Wizards series, it’s been one of my favorites for years! I think I once put the first one on Mom’s bedroom shelf for like a week, in case she accidentally left the other seventeen books in her TBR stack in the living room or something 😛 before deciding actually I wanted to reread it myself and taking it back, lol.
Esp rec the ebooks, personally—the author revised them to varying degrees to fix the sliding timeline/continuity errors in the original versions, and the sixth book in particular I actually hesitate to recommend the original due to its handling of a character, but the revised version is utterly fantastic and I love it to pieces. I do love the rest of the original versions, though, which I’ve read some of more times than I can count.
(also hi mom, were you just waiting to see how long it would take me to spot the YW shoutout and chime in? 😉 ❤️)
On May 31, 2019 at 8:39 pm
Melissa Wiley says:
I KNEW you would have plenty to say about Young Wizards!! 🙂 I’m glad you weighed in because you are absolutely the family expert! ❤️❤️❤️
On June 12, 2019 at 6:30 pm