A full and rich day of editing – and soon out to dinner at our favorite family BBQ place (mystery shop, sshhhh)
The weather today’s been amazing – wild storms, lightning, then the purest, sweetest air and lovely sunshine. It’s supposed to be a scorcher tomorrow, so we’ll probably end up at the pool – which is why I spent most of the day today getting computer editing done.
The book is coming together – the essays I have are extraordinary, and every now and then I have to walk away from the work because it can be very affecting. I’m still open for submissions – especially ones that have a light, upbeat or positive ending. That’s not to say a serious piece isn’t welcomed, too, but I’d like to get a nice balance.
This started as a labor of love – I wanted to write something myself about mourning through my craft – but when I finished, it seemed lonely, as if it wanted a larger framework. The more I’d travel and talk about loss, knitting and recovering – the more folks would agree and share their own inspiring stories with me.
Most of the editing is rather light, although in some cases I’ve become more involved. I think I used to be more precious about this – altering someone’s writing – but after seeing how my own words have been edited in my published essays (quite often, although I don’t like to admit it, to great benefit) I feel better about creating a unifying tone which will run through the essays. And so far just about everyone is happy – really lovely – about the changes. Yahoo!
I’ve been incredibly self involved lately. Reading only my own stuff, head down, working, and not seeing my friends who may be in need. This morning I heard about one online knitting friend who’d had an accident, another who – while recovering from surgery – lost her grandmother. It makes me understand how easy it is to become disengaged from the world, from friends (whether they’re next door or in the next blog in the ring). I used to say, when I first moved to NYC 20hmmm years ago, that if someone had 10 friends they could really only expect to see them once every two weeks if they had dinner with one friend every night (two nights off a week to rest).
Time and energy – two things I wish I could turn on and off – but would life be as sweet if I could manage everything?
A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 25% of women in the US don’t visit a doctor regularly because they can’t afford it. They found that 17% of insured women also feel this way. As of last Thursday I’m in the latter group – and tomorrow I’m going for my first insured doctor visit in over 3 years.
Perhaps this will be the first step toward allowing me to manage my energy more effectively? Oh, how I’d love to feel as energetic and pain free as I did 3 years ago!