What’s Keeping Me Busy This Week

I’m in one of those phases where it feels like I need silverware dividers for my day–an hour here, an hour and a half here, 43.61 minutes there.

It’s also one of those phases with not as much time for my fiction as I’d like, but life can be like that. I’m working to get chunks of other stuff out of the way, so I can bring clean, clear concentration back to my stories.

Meanwhile, here’s a bit of what I have been doing.

• Getting ready to present three workshops at the 2011 Pennwriters conference in Pittsburgh next month. I’ll be talking about how to build a critique group, how to develop a strong and supportive critique, and how to revise once you’ve got that pile of feedback.
• Collecting & fine-tuning some nonfiction samples to share with Laura and Lisa at Mentors for Rent. The more time I spend with history and other nonfiction, the more I want to write in that genre for children. Time to get some coaching from the experts.
• Working on a VERY SECRET craft project for a niece who is-sometime this month or next–having TWINS! I already have some experience with twins–my grandmother and her sister were identical, as are two of my nephews. BUT I have not yet been a—drumroll, please…GREAT-AUNT!!!!! I could get into this, I think.

• Receiving stupendous comments on my picture book from my critique partners. Okay, not stupendous, as in, “SEND THIS OUT NOW!” but definitely stupendous in the Duh! Fireworks-of-Ideas way. LOVE those guys!
• Reading and reading and reading. Unfortunately, not research reading right now, but comfort-relax-escape reading, which I do a LOT of when the rest of the day feels chaotic. Thank goodness for all the wonderful books out there that let me grab a few retreat minutes when I need them. Recent reads that I loved: Rick Riordan’s The Lost Hero, Jim Butcher’s Side Jobs, and Colin Cotterill’s The Coroner’s Lunch.

It’s all great stuff to be doing. Of course, if Stephen Fry showed up on my doorstep offering to be my Jeeves for a few weeks, I would happily hand over the dishes, the grocery shopping, the cooking, the laundry…and so on, and so on.

As would we all, yes?! Happy good-busyness to everyone. 🙂