Goodbye Summer

Good morning everyone! Are we all having a wonderful week so far? Eh, mine's ok. We're still adjusting to having Dude in school and I'm figuring out how to best use those hours to my advantage. He's in school all day - which we are all loving. He absolutely adores going to school and the routine has made him a much happier boy. Diva is loving having the house and toys to herself without any fights or sneaking or protecting what she's playing with, so she's been quite pleasant lately. And me, well, let's just say that after a month and a half of my kids being sick of each other and fighting constantly, I'm VERY happy that they are happy. Plus, with Diva's naptime, I pretty much get 2-4 hours to myself 5 days a week. It's delicious.



So, while we've been adjusting, I've been thinking about my writing. And I'll be honest guys, I'm a little burned out. I pushed really hard to get Bound in Ink finished by the end of the summer - and finishing it early fried my brain a tad. After having my freakout/panic attack, I was able to simmer down a bit and lose myself in books. And it's been fabulous. I've discovered the heartbreaking amazingness that is Sarah Dessen - I'm now in the process of working my way through her books at my library. And I'm catching up on the books I've purchased over the last 6 months that I haven't had a chance to read yet. And on a particularly lazy day last week, I watched Anne of Green Gables, remembering how much I loved it and deciding to read the books, since I've never read them before. It's been incredibly refreshing, letting myself soak in the incredible writing of others to help get my own creative juices flowing a bit.

Which has led me to the decision I made last night. I'm taking a break from Bound in Ink. I think I've gotten way too obsessed with it to the point that the story isn't fun - it's stressful. I need to write something fun again and then come back to Bound in Ink with fresh eyes and motivation. Because if I'm not having fun and enjoying the story, it will show in my writing, and I don't want that. So, I've had a shiny and intriguing new idea floating around in my head the last week, and I think I'm going to toy around with it for a while, see where it takes me. Already I can feel the stress leaking away and the excitement coming back. And it will be an excellent distraction for me and give my poor wonderful friends a break from my impatience as they read Bound in Ink. ;) Those poor girls, I don't think we realized what a pain I would end up being.

As well as reading and writing something new, I promised Sparky now that Dude is in school and I have more kid-free time, I would work on sprucing up our place. Right now we live in a cute townhouse and since I've always convinced myself it was temporary, it is in quite sad shape. I won't lie - I will use pretty much any excuse to get out of housework. But he wants me to try and do better, since it looks like we'll be here a while longer. So he made me a deal. One new book for each room I get back under control. (Basically, it's my major spring cleaning at the beginning of fall. I'm such a procrastinator.) Since I'm never one to turn down new books, and I promised I wouldn't buy new ones until I read all the unread ones in my possession, this is a good deal.



Well, that's what's up with me now that summer is drawing to a close. School, cleaning, reading, and writing. How about you guys? Anyone going back to school? Working on a new project? And is any0ne besides me suddenly really excited for all the holidays now that it's pretty much September? (I'm already looking at Christmas gifts and watching Halloween movies. Yeah, I know.)