Funny things from today

Too often, a bunch of stuff that tries our patience can happen in one day. Then there are the days when a bunch of crazy stuff happens, or when it’s like nothing seems to be going right at all. Been there, on all counts!

But sometimes, funny stuff can happen every once in a while. Today, I had a few funny things come up, just in one day!

It started when I was picking Jesse up from the bus at the bus stop. After he and the other kids got off, they all stood on the corner, doing jumping jacks. I stared at them in confusion. What were they doing THAT for?? I noticed they were all looking at the bus driver and when I looked at her, she was smiling and giving them a thumbs up. When she was gone and they were done doing jumping jacks, I asked Jesse what that was about. He said that the bus driver had told them they could do jumping jacks after they got off the bus. I laughed and asked him, “Why did she say that? Were you guys trying to do jumping jacks on the bus?”

He said no, shrugged and shook his head as he ran off to the van.

The next funny thing that happened was at the store later on. Jesse was with me. I was getting some groceries for the weekend. After we were done  getting food, I stood in the lobby with Jesse as he was getting a gumball from a machine. Then I noticed there was a young boy standing behind me (he looked about 10 or 11). I observed that he was just standing there, staring down at a tablet that he was playing a game on. I thought, Why is this kid standing behind me? I thought to ask him if he wanted something but had a feeling not to say anything. I then realized I was standing in front of the claw machine for toys and I thought maybe he was waiting to use the machine so I moved up a little to give him room to use it. But he moved up a little right along with me! I was standing there, trying to figure this out, then noticed a man stood a ways off to my left, waving his arm in our direction and saying something. I watched the boy look up and realize who he was standing behind and run off to join the man. The man was wearing the same colored jacket and jeans that I was wearing.

Apparently, the kid must’ve thought he was still behind the person he was supposed to be behind! LOL Whoops!

Well, today Jesse received an invitation to a friend’s birthday party. I finally got around to texting them to let them know we would be there. Thing of it was, Jesse had entered their number on my phone, and I didn’t double-check the area code before I sent the text! When I realized my mistake, I laughed and wondered aloud, “Did I just text Japan?” I showed it to Jen and she laughingly grinned then nodded. I did send the text to the right number though, but I kept wondering who I had accidentally sent the text message to. (I just looked up the area code and, fortunately, it was not a Japan number! It’s actually a number in Ohio. Um….oops!)

Also today, while I was doing laundry, I was removing yet another load of clothes from the dryer when I noticed one of them kinda stuck. I shrugged it off, thinking a shirt sleeve was under the rotor, then more carefully removed the clothes, moving everything out from under the rotor. That worked fine until I noticed a long stretch of cloth hanging from a clothing that turned out to be a towel! Apparently, the washing machine tried to tear off a part of the towel. I stood there holding it, asking, “What the heck?” I think it might’ve gotten stuck in the rotor somehow and tore during the wash cycle. That was crazy! Our washing machine is tearing up laundry? Really??

Here is a pic of the top part of that towel (after it went through the dryer):

Well, after that excitement, I was busy putting away the folded beach towels in the closet when I noticed something off. I am very particular with how these towels are folded and put away. I want the lines on them to show and I want them in the same order. One towel didn't have the lines on it showing so of course I had to unfold the towel then refold it to where the lines were showing and I put it back in the correct order so that the lines were the same as the ones on the towel underneath it. And when I was putting it back on that towel, I joked, “Laces out!”

Also today: While I was writing one scene in my short story, Jesse was reading over my shoulder as I typed. (I had been working on the short story earlier in the day while he was at school but I wanted to finish it today so I was working on it again after he was home.) As he often does, he took over the writing and typed something funny in the story. Here is what he typed (his words start with “Olive fought the man”):

Finally, the day ended on a sad note. There was leftover biscuit dough from dinner this evening so I thought to make some biscuits with it so we could eat them tomorrow. But what I hadn’t planned on doing was putting them into the oven then going to the desk to get back to writing my short story. I got so caught up with the writing and finishing my short story that I forgot all about the biscuits! This is how they looked when I finally remembered them and got them out of the oven:

Sigh. You know you’re a writer when your food gets burned because you forgot all about it while you were busy writing.

Trying a new reading routine

First of all, I am all for trying something new. In fact, I jump at the chance. I LOVE trying something new! New foods, new travel routes, new kinds of writing and new hobbies. (In fact, I am learning how to do a new thing right now, to see if I can pursue it as a hobby.) I also like checking out new TV shows, books and artwork. Another “new” thing I’ll try a hand at is a new system, routine, method or just a new way to do something.

Last week, I tried something a new reading routine. Usually, I read two books at a time: Fiction and nonfiction. I have quite the collection of books and several I have yet to read. (In fact, I have a whole box of novels in my room I hope to get around to reading through someday!) But last week, I decided to try reading three books at once. I got the idea to do this because of the fact that I’m working on three different projects throughout the day. (I talked about that on my writing blog, in this post.) I figured I would need something to distract myself with in between working on them.

So, I started this new “reading routine” last week, on Monday. I’d read in a book (sometimes just 1 or 2 chapters, depending on the book, but with one book I read through several chapters in a day) then I’d work on one of my projects: The short story for the week, the nonfiction book I’m writing, one of the novels I’m writing, a nonfiction book I am typing out from a notebook or two books I am revising. Or maybe there’d be poetry. But in between them all, I’d take a break and read in a book. For last week, the three books I read are a novel I am reviewing for Night Owl Reviews (which I finished reading today), a book about the Norman Conquest (that was me satisfying my inner history buff), and a book about fashion design (one of the things I am thinking of pursuing as a hobby – the other is landscaping).

And, surprisingly, I was able to pull it off. It went really well. I was able to read three books at once without getting confused over anything or being too distracted by one book to concentrate on another.

I am very pleased I was able to do this. And now, with my current reading done (as I also finished reading the Norman Conquest book today) and ready to take on new books to read, I started to wonder today: Am I willing to give it another go? Read three more books at the same time?

Actually, I don’t think I really need to.

It’s not that I didn’t like this arrangement. Heck, any time I have to read makes me happy!

The one thing that bugged me about it, though, is that it DID annoy me that I HAD to read in another book again instead of doing something else. I don’t like being tied down to anything.

And the time-consuming part of it was an irritant, too. I mean, I coulda been doing something else instead of reading AGAIN. As much as I love to read, I always see reading as one important thing to get done in my day and, when it’s done, it’s DONE and now it’s time to do other things. I am the same way with everything else. After I’ve done “the email thing” for the day, I’m DONE with emails. After I’ve spent time on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest, I’m DONE with them for the day (although I’ll make exceptions to Facebook to reply to comments that same night or answer messages if I have time because too many people grew irritated with my 24-hours-to-respond policy). After I’m done working on a project, I’m done with it for the day until next time. I just didn’t like taking time to read three times a day. Ugh.

But the main reason why I don’t think I’ll be doing this again next week is just that I really didn’t need to do that after all. I THOUGHT I would need to do that in order to make the transition between projects go more smoothly, but I really didn’t. I saw proof that I didn’t yesterday, when I easily went from working on one of my WIPs to another without any reading needed to be done to get into the mindset for it. I just easily jumped from one thing to another. I was able to focus on each one 100% and have no trouble as far as getting back into a story was concerned.

So, it turns out that I don’t really need to “distract myself” with other things in between transitioning from one project to another. I have no trouble doing this without the distractions. I think that is pretty cool and I’m glad that I was able to see for myself that I can handle multiple projects at once just fine.

Just not multiple books to read. From now on, I think I’ll just stick with two.

Great first day of the new year

Before 2016 even got here, I was hopeful that THIS year would be better. Last year wasn’t so good so I was keeping my thoughts positive that this year would be a good one!

Well, I can’t say as yet if the year itself is turning out better than the last. But I can say this: The first day of 2016 has just been AWESOME! There were a couple of bad things that happened today, but there were mostly good things! Things I am MUCH more happier about.

When I woke up this morning, for some reason, I had the Doctor Who poem in my head. But after that went away, I got out of bed and went straight to the computer. I turned it on, grabbed a bottle of water, sat down at the desk, popped open Word and…started writing. I didn’t even think about what I was doing. I just started writing the very first page of a new novel.

Yes, I am finally writing a new novel. Yahoo!! I am so happy to be writing a novel again. But even happier to be writing any fiction at all! Seriously, I struggled with writing fiction last year. The newest book in the GHOST Group series remained unfinished for months. Short stories were never finished. And I had NOTHING in the way of a new novel. I just couldn’t get the words out. I had ideas for a novel, sure, but I just couldn’t WRITE it. The story lingered in my mind, waiting to be born. And today I finally released it onto paper. I am looking forward to writing this!

Another awesome thing that happened today is that my phone got fixed! My phone has been giving me problems for quite some time. I was ready to smash it with a hammer! AGH! But I handed it over to my husband and asked him for help. I explained the situation. After tinkering with it, he fixed it. And now everything is working so much better on my phone. Yay! I didn’t have to delete anything, either. Phew! 

I am also glad there's a new episode of Sherlock tonight. I recorded it and have not seen it yet. My husband is watching Supernatural (DVDs I have already watched). But I'll be watching the new Sherlock real soon!

And, finally, I have been able to keep my New Year’s resolutions so far. I kept the ones that apply for today! One resolution is to exercise every day, no matter what exercise it is. Because I had stomach problems all day, though, I couldn’t do a regular workout. But I did exercise on the resistance band as well as some other stretches so at least that is something. Better than nothing! I hope I feel better tomorrow so I can do more exercising. I also resisted the temptation to drink any beer. I am experimenting with something health-wise (which I hope to write about in my health book) and removing alcohol from my diet is an important part of it. So yay on beating that temptation! I used to drink every day and sometimes many in 1 day but NOT today and NOT this year! I want to see this experiment through to the end and if I’ll get the kind of results that I’m looking for. (Yes, I am always the guinea pig for my books. Ha!) And, anyway, I am NOT going to be alcohol's bitch anymore. Done with all that!!

As to the bad things that happened… Well, I didn’t get my check today. Sigh! I was really counting on it because we need to go to the store but I guess I’ll get the check on Monday. At least we have enough food in the house to last us through the weekend. And, oh, I DID find some money today, after I tweeted about my frustrations over not getting my check. So that’s awesome! Good to have that if we do need it. (NOTE: After I posted on this blog and did some research for the novel, I decided to check my bank account again, just for the heck of it. And my check is THERE! We can buy FOOD! Glory be!)

The other bad thing was that I wanted a cup of cappuccino tonight (at 10 p.m.!) but…there was no cappuccino! NOOOOO!!!! We didn’t have the coffee I was craving! Boo-hoo! If only Starbucks did late-night deliveries. Sigh. (But I survived.)

Despite the bad things today, I am very happy about the good things. And another good thing might happen too: I just MIGHT have a new gig. That’d be so cool! I hope I get this. It’ll really help and I won’t feel so useless being unemployed for so long.

Today has really been a great day. I have also enjoyed spending today with my kids and enjoying this new year. We have had a lot of fun together today and I look forward to doing things with them in the coming months.

Here’s to a happy and adventurous 2016!

Front and center

Earlier this year, I lost a writing gig that was supposed to be a “long-term” thing. But that didn’t end up being long-term after all. I was going to give myself some time to find new clients for that line of work and, meanwhile, looking for something more dependable to bring in extra income. At first, I didn’t really put much effort into that. I tried to find a job here and there, but I didn’t really put too much energy into it. I guess I was still holding out hope that I’d find a new ghostwriting client.

Now fast forward to the present. It has been over 6 months since A: I tried to find a new ghostwriting client. And B: I tried to find a more dependable line of work while searching for that client.

And neither of those things have happened!

So, recently, I made a decision. It was time to say goodbye to ghostwriting. And it was also time to put more focus on finding a new job. That’s the thing that has kept me so preoccupied all week. It was time to put this quest to find a new job front and center. It had to be my COMPLETE and ONLY goal for the time being. I had to REALLY focus on it. After I get a new job, then I can go back to focusing on everything else. But right now, I live, breathe, and eat this one goal: Find. New. Job. 

But then, earlier this week, something came up that sorta threw me off that task. And I got upset and all emotional but then I dealt with it on my own. So after that was over and done with, THEN I got back on track in finding a new job.

At first, I tried looking for work outside of the home, but, recently, I decided that I should not limit myself to that. That decision was reinforced for me in the very early hours of the morning when I woke up at 2 a.m. and, unable to go back to sleep because I was so stressed out about my situation, I decided to just pray. Last night, I had been VERY depressed about this situation. I was upset, disappointed with myself, and feeling pretty worthless. And, now, with it disrupting my sleep, I decided to just give this all to God. Just pray and let God handle it.

After that, I got out of bed (since I couldn’t sleep anyway) and got online to poke around on the Internet. That poking around got me noticing that I was checking out a bunch of writing jobs.

I stopped myself when I realized this. Wait a minute, I thought, what am I doing? Was I really looking for a work-from-home job after I had said goodbye to working from home?

But then I figured, yes, I suppose I was. I suppose this is something I should no longer avoid.

A lot of the jobs outside of the home had all these requirements I could not meet:

Phone or radio communication (no good since I’m deaf)
Prior experience in the field
A degree or certification 
Heavy lifting (no good since my arm injury is not yet healed)
Sign language proficiency (believe it or not, I’m not proficient in ASL because I only have one good hand. I’m a one-handed signer! But one job needed me to sign with two hands. My limitation with sign also limited how much of it I applied myself to learning. As with everything in life, I had to adapt!)

But I have actually had more luck in finding work when I work from home. There’s no communication problems because it’s all through email or private messages or a messaging system through a website. (And even if I had to make phone calls, I use relay.) Plus, I understand that I’m not exactly an attractive person for everybody to see. I have 3rd degree burn scars on my face. I’m not so naïve as to think the world is full of people who accept everyone despite how they look on the outside, because I know for a fact that there are shallow people who only want eye candy instead of an intelligent or loving or compassionate person. I know how it is in the world. I’m no beauty queen. (Which is pretty much why I never want to be on TV and tend to avoid video chats.) But working from home, I can keep my face hidden. Nobody has to see me. Yes, some websites want a photo. Ugh! It’s an annoying thing to deal with. I try to be careful with those. But working from home means I don’t have to deal with anyone who would recoil in horror when seeing my face. And, also, I can make my own hours!

And anyway, there was actually a couple of writing jobs on that website I was qualified for. With one job, I had the experience they wanted applicants to have, and with the other, I had a nice list of clips to share when applying for a position. Alas, they were not looking for writers in Eugene. Darn it!

But I went back to bed thinking about that. And I recalled how a friend of mine shared with me a work-from-home job opportunity this summer. I turned it down because I didn’t want to keep working from home, but now I was actually interested in applying for it. And also, there are ways I could work this job away from the desk and away from home. I could work it on a local level. So I contacted her about it this morning and we’re going to chat more about it this weekend.

But even if it does not work out, at least now I know that it’s okay to look for work-from-home jobs again. And I’d like to think that maybe God guided me to the answer to my prayer.

Blackish? Really?

I had a very interesting dream last night.

There was an awards show going on. A black man came out on the stage and he grabbed a microphone from the stand. In the very far foreground, there were two rows of announcers talking during the show. Most of them were black and this one black woman identified the man on stage as “blackish.” The guy looked in her direction, clearly stunned. There was an uncomfortable silence, something like a loud gasp, after she’d said that word. I guess I should note that most of the people in the audience were black, as well. Then one lady in the top row said “Did you just say blackish?” And another one in the same row said, “You did NOT just say the word blackish.” Meanwhile, the girl who’d said the word was really uncomfortable and started stammering an apology. She was just as stunned by what she’d said as everybody else was. Then one brave soul decided to break the awkward, uncomfortable silence everybody was feeling by getting up from her seat, walking over to the girl who’d said the word, then playfully pulling her hair as she pretended to be mad and raging at her. The girl, meanwhile, was laughing, but it was obvious she was sorry for the mistake. Then everybody settled back in their seats and the show continued and I woke up.

When I woke up from that dream, I thought, Blackish? What the—

I know, dreams are weird. But it’s doubly weird that happened in my dream. I don't even watch awards shows, as it is. 

I have to admit that, as a writer, I find the word “blackish” off-putting. I mean, something or someone is either black or white. There is no in-between. To say that someone or something is “blackish” is like saying that they are not entirely black. They are somewhat black. Myself, if I came across that word in a book I’m reading, I would wonder that if the person or thing, like a cat, is “blackish,” then what’s the other color? In the example of a cat, it would make sense to say that the cat is “blackish and grayish” to indicate the combination of the two colors of the cat’s fur. That’s a better picture of what the cat could look like. Without the supplemental color, however, saying it’s “blackish” would leave me without a clear picture of the cat.

After I got the kids off to school this morning, and I was back at the desk, I decided to Google the word “blackish” to see what came up. The word just bugged me as a standalone word. I was seeing it as an adjective. However, I learned there is a sitcom called Black-ish, so maybe with the awards ceremony in my dream, maybe that was an actor for the show. (I am HORRIBLE at recognizing people – though I can totally recognize Stan Lee in any Marvel film! Hah!) I have not seen the show, so I’m not very clear on that. There is also a game developing company in Australia called Blackish Games. And Dictionary.com said it can be used to describe an African American person (though the people in my dream would disagree).

I have no qualms about adding “-ish” to words. Whovians got a good laugh with one episode of Doctor Who in which the Doctor tells his companion, Clara, “Same place…ish.” To which Clara replies, “Ish? Don’t give me an ish.” And the Doctor says, “These readings are very … um … ishy.”

I even give people an “ish.” Like, “Dinner will be ready at 8ish.” Or “I’ll see you at 3ish.” Sometimes, I’ll say “Some, somewhat” instead, but yes, I do say “ish” a lot if I’m not exactly sure about a time or place. Or I’ll say, “Thereabouts.”

But to use “ish” when describing someone, things can get a little muddled. Saying something like “He had newish clothes” is not all that bad, but calling a cat “blackish” seems a little incomplete.

And as a final thought on that word, perhaps “blackish” could describe something that is exclusively African American. Such as in “He likes to read books written by Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and other blackish books.” I could see how that would work when the word is used in such a way, because people know Angelou was black and Morrison is black.

But I think to describe a person as “blackish” and not add much else is a bit of a no-no. 

The awesomeness that was today

I normally have a “to-do” list to tackle every Sunday. It’s the usual “getting ready for another busy week” stuff. Washing school clothes, getting the kids’ school stuff together for the morning rush, planning meals for the week and putting together tomorrow’s grocery list. All that fun stuff. But it seems lately that I am making notes on OTHER things to tackle during my weekends, like an ongoing project or cleaning/organizing an area of the house/yard/garage. (Stuff I can’t do during the busy week!)

                                        

Well, I had that going on this weekend, and I split the list in two. I got some stuff done yesterday and some stuff done today. Unfortunately, I didn’t get ALL the stuff for today done because, first of all, I could not get the thing I needed to work on my recipe project and, second, when I stopped to take a nap, it was DARK when I woke up! So that canceled out taking the car to the car wash. (I still cleaned out the car, though.)

It was still a great day. I wanted a BLT for lunch but, unfortunately, we didn’t have any tomatoes. So I whipped together a different sandwich for lunch: Bacon, ham and Swiss. It was YUMMY!!

I also updated my website, cleaned off the top of the fridge (which was very dir-tay) and updated my files. I also tackled a stack of papers on top of one of the bookcases and got the mail ready to go for tomorrow.

Another AWESOME thing that happened today? I FINALLY finished something I have been working on for weeks! I have this YA fantasy series going on and I'm building the fictional world and naming everybody and everything as I go. It's like the story is unfolding in bits and pieces. One major part of it is the worldbuilding. I have been spending some time studying maps and researching how to create a fictional map to go with my fictional world. Well, today, I was reading this month's issue of National Geographic, and on one page, there's a picture of how the North America continent looked thousands of years ago. We're talking a LONG time ago. And part of that continent seemed to grab me. I don't know what happened, but as I looked at it, I saw my fictional world take shape. I saw the kingdoms and what it was all supposed to look like. It was just...surreal. I tried tracing it onto paper based on that picture but I couldn't do it. So I asked Jennifer to give it a try. The first thing she did was tear out the page! GAH! ( I love National Geographic and actually collect the magazines, so I died a little inside after that page was torn out.) She could not do it. I wouldn't give up. I grabbed the torn page and pressed REALLY HARD with my pencil to shape it out on the paper. The faint outline was there, so I traced over it then got to work creating the rest of it. I added all the other details like names, etc., and soon, voila! My fictional world for this series was finally on paper! I was SO HAPPY to get that done! I had to sacrifice a page from my beloved National Geographic, but it got done.

And I was also able to make the brownies I had been unable to make last weekend. I didn’t have everything for the recipe last weekend so I decided to make them this weekend. Alas, I was 2 eggs short after we were in the process of melting the chocolate. Fortunately, my awesome neighbor saved the day by giving us two eggs. (Thanks, Julie!) It was quite a job making these brownies! It was certainly a two-person job, because at one point, you have to pour and whisk at the same time. (With my left hand being the way it is, that’s not quite feasible.) It was A LOT of whisking, too! My hand got tired so hubby took over. So we both made the brownies together. And they were SO GOOD! Yummy! The recipe is called “Supernatural Brownies.” And we are ending this awesome day by watching Supernatural. Very cool!

She read my mind

Yesterday, as I was reviewing the kind of books I'll be publishing next year for my publishing company, I really wished I had a novel release from my daughter, Jennifer, in that line-up. She has attempted to write novels before, but never finished one.
 
Yesterday, she finished one. And I am so proud of her!

I am blogging about this today because, on one hand, by the time I was able to blog about it last night, I was too exhausted to do so. I just went to bed and fell right to sleep! On the other hand, there is a follow-up to this story.

But first, let's backtrack a bit here.

JENNIFER WROTE A NOVEL! WOO-HOO!!!

I know it's National Novel Writing Month (something I've actually been struggling with, unfortunately), and people participating in NaNo take a whole month to write their novel. Jennifer wrote hers in one day! Granted, it's not 50,000 words, but it's done. It's written. She wrote it in one day! Woot!

And there's something more here that was even more awesome.

It's actually surprising to me that Jennifer actually wrote something, albeit a novel, on a day she had an eye injury. Unfortunately, she got hurt at school yesterday and her right eye got a paper cut. Ouch! But would you believe that this wonder kid still sat down at the computer and wrote a book, all while she was in pain and typing with only one eye opened?? (I eventually got her to take some Tylenol and it helped her with the pain.) She actually WROTE SOMETHING with only one eye opened! That is pretty awesome. It kinda reminds me of the time I wrote some poems even when I had to wear an eye patch for a week after I had my own eye injury (a palm frond scratched my eyeball. You can bet I didn't run too closely past a low palm tree again after that!) Or when I was in the hospital and could not write with my hands and so I recited a poem to a nurse, who wrote it down for me.

Well, fortunately, Jennifer's eye got better. She is doing much better today and won't need an eye patch, thankfully.

I am still blown away by her ability to write a book despite all that, though. She must've been VERY inspired!! She's definitely got that "creative madness" we writers are known for.

And guess what? The book she wrote is the first book in a fantasy series. She started writing the second book today. Go, Jen!!

Keeping a journal

I have mentioned on this blog before that I keep a personal journal. This is the paper kind of journal I actually write on with a pen. Usually, I don’t write in my journal until the end of the day – IF there is something to write in it, that is. But, today, I had some things on my mind, so I wanted to write them in there so that I could get on with the rest of the day. And not only did I write in my journal today earlier than normal, but I wrote a whole page! But considering that I was talking about writing (“writing about writing”), then I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. And I may have a blog related to writing to put this stuff on, but I have a guest on my blog right now and that post stays up until Monday. So I put it into the personal journal, even though the stuff I wrote is not exactly “personal.”

But I got to thinking about all the stuff I DO write about in that journal. For the most part, it is personal stuff. I write about my thoughts, my dreams, stuff going on, conversations I have with hubby, strange things that happen, marriage stuff and personal family stuff. (I don’t believe in airing dirty laundry on the Internet, so I don’t put the drama and personal family stuff on my blog.) This journal was a HUGE help when I was coping with the loss of my mother, and it has also been a good way for me to work through things I have gone through when I didn’t have someone around to talk to about them. (I do talk with hubby about stuff, but not about everything. And I don’t have any family out here, so it’s not like I can get together with my sis and discuss stuff.) So, it’s been VERY helpful to me.

I write about writing in my journal, too. But mostly, thoughts and feelings I have with certain things I am writing. Also, about certain jobs I have had in writing, editing and publishing; the people I work with and stuff.

So, yes, writing is something I talk about in my journals. I also write about my ideas.

And it occurred to me that these topics can actually be journals, too. I have heard some people keep a prayer journal and even a travel journal. I used to keep a dream journal a long time ago, as well as an idea journal. I kept a journal when I was pregnant with my first child, and I also kept travel journals when my family made a cross-country move. For one class I took in college, the professor encouraged us to keep a journal about our experiences taking the class. I have also kept a food journal and a journal just for one particular thing I was trying to learn how to do.

So, yes, journals can be kept for a variety of reasons. I know one of my friends, writer Jenn Greenleaf, also keeps journals, so I was curious if she kept journals for different purposes. “I used to keep a separate dream journal, but now I just keep it all together in one journal,” she said.

These days, I put everything into one journal, too. I guess having separate journals for different reasons is helpful, but I could not keep track of them all anymore. It’s enough to keep track of the different notebooks I use for different purposes.

Four and four

I believe that for every yin, there is a yang. There is positive and negative, good and bad. Just the scales balancing out, as they should. There has to be a balance. Last week, I mentioned on Facebook how I was having rotten luck on a particular day. But, on the other hand, the rest of my week had been pretty good. So, in a way, this “bad luck day” was just a way of my week “balancing out.” There’s good and bad – always.

Yesterday, that ended up happening, too. There was a sort of “balancing out” with the books I was reading AND the books I was working on. I thought that was pretty neat so I wanted to blog about it. (After all was said and done at the end of my day yesterday, I was way too exhausted to write this blog post, so I am writing it today.)

Normally, I don’t plan my day ahead in my dayplanner. I DO write down appointments, scheduled events and things I HAVE to do on a particular day, but I pretty much let the day take care of itself. I KNOW what has to happen, and I DO try to make those things happen. But I don’t write them all in there unless they DO happen. So that was an even bigger surprise yesterday, that the day just filled itself up on its own and, at the same time, struck a balance as far as books being worked on and books being read are concerned.

During the week, I work on my books while the kids are in school. Usually, I’ll work on two books while they are in school. I DO try to squeeze in a bit of book work here and there when they are home, but that really depends on if the children are preoccupied. They usually are and I’ll usually manage to get work done on an extra book, making the number of books I work on being 3.

But yesterday, I managed to work on four books in one day. Thankfully, the children stayed busy A LOT yesterday (thank goodness there are days they will play together so well) and so, yesterday in the late afternoon and last night, I was able to work on two books while they were home. I was able to work on four books yesterday! WOO-HOO!!! That was a new record, so, yay!

But also, I did some reading in four books, too. I normally read in more than one book every week. Sometimes, it’ll take me 2 weeks or longer to read one book, and if so, I add that book to the next batch of books I’ll read come the next Monday. That is what happened with one book in particular. I started reading two new books yesterday and the other two are ones I have been reading for a while.

The books I worked on yesterday are:

1.    The haunted cities book
2.    The deaf parenting book
3.    The alien book
4.    The first book in the Revise Your Writing series (I had to write new chapters and now I have to find people to interview).

The four books I read yesterday are:

1.    Seven Point Eight by Marie Harbon (an ebook that is taking me a Very Long Time to finish reading because, first, it is an ebook, and I am not a fast ebook reader and, second, it’s over 400 pages long!)
2.    Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (an historical novel Jennifer read for OBOB that she LOVED and recommended to me)
3.    The Dragon Quintet, a collection of dragon stories edited by Marvin Kaye
4.    City of Orphans by Avi – this is another book taking me a while to read because Jen and I are reading it together and we go a chapter at a time.

And I just realized something else, too. The four books I am working on this week (those four mentioned above) are all nonfiction. The four books I am reading this week are all fiction. Yet another way of things balancing out. That’s pretty cool, too.