2008 and Today

Today is my first official full day back to work this year.

I work from home, so I suppose it would be hard to tell, but I have been putting family and the house first (a new house that needs personal-touch upgrading) over the holidays while circumstances made it the right time to do that, pushing aside much of my own work until the right time came to return to it steadily. Part of me always resents the intrusion into my work time, even when the intrusion is enjoyable. Breaks are good, however, as long as they don't become too extended.

One of my goals this year, since I do goals now instead of resolutions, is to write every day, on break or on holiday notwithstanding. It may be no more than a couple of paragraphs given the day's circumstances, but it will be something -- something other than blogging and email, something creative. So far, I have done that, and yes, there have been days it was only a paragraph or two, but it was new and creative. Art is like anything else; it must be routinely practiced to have a 'building' effect that causes improvement.

So far, I have finished a short contest entry entitled "Dear Me" -- a letter to myself about what I want to accomplish during the year; I have started a new short story about one of my favorite novel characters to delve more deeply into a time of his life that isn't included in one of the novels in my series; and maybe most exciting, last night I finally finished the complete rewrite of the novel fans are asking for ... the second of the Rehearsal series. It has only taken me a year and a half to do the rewrite. Only. Yes well, it is somewhere close to 200,000 words and in between I've done several short stories and the first 60,000 words of two other novels along with my online job, kids, and moving to a new state.

Today I start the major editing of it. I may be in the minority, but I love the editing process. I love going back and grimacing at some of the strange sentence structures that came from a tired brain and reworking them until they have just the right effect. I love being able to let myself highlight whole sections that aren't really necessary and clicking the delete key. I always save each complete draft, which makes that less scary. Mainly, I love seeing something rough sharpen and lighten and become more for the reader than for me.

Today, as well, my oldest child started college. It's an exciting time (never mind the tuition/books bill) that takes me back to my own college days and all of the vivid memories. It also means she will be out of the house not only for her variable part time job hours but for a set time two days a week that I can count on as being "mine" and mine alone.

Today, my husband is back to work after a long, well-deserved holiday break.

Today, I pushed further into an affiliation with a new organization I am proud to be associated with: Books for Boots.

Today, I also start the revamp of my website to include the info on this association.

Today ... is full of possibilities.

What are all of you doing with your todays?