If we were having coffee, I’d apologize for being late. I know we usually meet on weekends, but mine was an exceptionally busy one. But you’re here now, so pull up a chair and I’ll pour you a cup.

One of the reasons my weekend was so full is because I devoted my entire Saturday to cleaning up a novel I wrote years ago. For those of you who don’t know, this is a story originally begun to entertain my children and many nieces and nephews. I wove them into each part and included my parents as magical fairies as well. I illustrated it (badly) and we even got little stuffed animals to accompany each character. It was a fun, family thing.

As the years went on, my mind often returned to the story. There was something there. I went back to it, and rewrote it as a Young Adult fantasy novel, sans pictures. It went through several revisions and spent more time in a drawer than anything else. I finally committed to the project and completed a decent rough draft. During one of my many writing classes, I was lucky to meet up with a professional editor. She worked on it and it became even better and then…life fell apart. I went through a divorce and all but abandoned the book.

Finally back on my feet and in a much better space, I recovered the old novel from that drawer and worked on it some more. I think it may finally be ready. I’ve lined up one of my students to be my beta reader and plan to share it with her in the next few weeks. My hope is to launch the book in the next few months.

I spent the rest of my weekend day tripping with my husband. We went to an Open House and then wound our way back home the long way. We stopped at one of my favorite bookstores in Madison. R.J.Julia is one of those magnificent places where you can get lost for hours. We left with an armload of books and continued on our way.

The next stop was at Hammonasset State Park. We walked on the beach and visited the Nature Center. I loved the snakes, but my husband, not so much. It was time well spent. Those moments when you can reconnect and just enjoy one another’s company is so important.

Our last stop was at a Bed and Breakfast that was for sale. We had such high hopes for it but when we pulled in the driveway, we were very disappointed. I wasn’t even sure we were at the right place because the old Victorian house looked so different from the picture we’d seen online. It seemed long-since abandoned and very sad. I’m sure the setting will make its way into one of my stories or poems one day, so it was not a total loss.

We returned home and Mark made dinner and before we knew it, the weekend was over. It was a good one. I hope yours was as well.

 

photo: mine