Now - back to business at hand. I was totally caught up in my new manuscript - Crooked Knife - but had the last bit of revision to do on Bright Angel before it got sent back to my mentor. The Shiny-New-Thing dilemma is always a problem for me. Fortunately, my fella, who is some smart, nudged me. "Don't you have that revision to do?" He is ever so gentle but as he hardly ever nudges I pay attention when he does. So I finished it and sent it off. Whew!
I have no idea how long my mentor will have with it. He teaches a number of university courses, so has plenty to do - plus his own revision, and, well...life. But now that it is away I can totally throw any spare time I have at this new manuscript. Which is good - as it needs a lot. I don't have one draft done yet. Just 55 thousand words and a lot of them for tossing. But I'm engaged - I'm loving it and thinking about it all the time when I'm not working (or watching Longmire).
We leave for our road trip to Halifax in a week and I'm trying not to fall into holiday madness. Why? Because:
- I'm a Buddhist so although I totally appreciate Jesus as a wisdom body - a teacher and holy person - I'm not a Christian.
- Even if I were a Christian - I don't understand what buying more than I can afford has to do with true Christian love.
- I don't like the feeling of guilt because I haven't organized my life around this event.
So what do I do in the holidays?
- Try to spend real loving time with relatives and friends.
- Cook good food.
- Buy books for all the grandchildren - something I've done for fifteen years now.
- Have a tree if possible because although I'm not a Christian - I do have pagan roots and as my birthday is on the solstice - well...I likes a tree. Don't you?
- Support a charity in the name of my close relatives - some charity that is meaningful to all of us. It is usually to do with helping educate girls in various regions.
- Make something by hand for Children's Day (a Buddhist holiday) for my special girl friends.
And that's it.
Any spare time in there, I like to spend reading and lolling or going snowshoeing, or attending children's concerts. ha. love those.
2 comments:
Oh, I love that 'photo, Jan! And I completely agree with you about what's happened to people's ideas about what Christmas 'should' be like. It's insane! At any rate, I think you have exactly the perfect way to spend the holidays, and I hope you enjoy it.
I am at 55K in a first draft too! Wishing you a lovely trip, and many good times with those you love.
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