Arrived, exhausted, around 3, having worked steadily from 4:30 a.m. on finishing a series of admin and other tasks. Checked in, curled up in bed with book found in room, _A Bridge to Terebithia_. Got perhaps a chapter in before falling asleep. Woke up twenty minutes later feeling a bit better. Finished re-reading book, was as good or better than remembered. Was reminded that the children�s literature of my youth used more advanced vocabulary than I�m used to seeing in YA these days. Interesting.
Got a mug of herbal tea, laptop, and copy of latest Ploughshares. Read a story, which I enjoyed. Nice to see lesbians on the front pages. Opened YA novel, drafted new (brief) prologue. Then retyped first chapter, making some clean-up edits as I went. Finished not long before dinner; read next story from Ploughshares, also good, although oddly sharply reminiscent of themes from Terebithia. Though way more of a downer, surprisingly enough, given that no one died in the story.
Dinner good as always (leek and potato tart, spicy grilled shrimp and green beans, heirloom tomato salad), met fellow Ragdale folks. Smaller group than usual; this must be the off-season. All writers at the moment! Nice conversation; after dinner, went for a 45-minute walk with two of them. More writing talk, mostly about war and death and parents and children. A bit about religion.
Back to room at 8:30. Opened YA, read first chapter out loud, making final (hopefully) edits as I went. Pretty clean; I think I�m happy with it. Retyped second chapter. 9:30 now, and pretty wiped; it�s been a long day. Plan for tomorrow � wake up and work, then walk on the prairie, then work, then swim at the beach, then work until I can�t work anymore. Only here for five days � have to make the most of it.
I had planned to try to stay mostly offline; so far, so good. Was just going to jump on to post this and for a brief e-mail check, but the internet doesn�t seem to be working. It�s for my own good, Ragdale tells me. All right then.
Oh wait -- it works if I walk over to the other building. Maybe even better this way. Hello, internet! Good night, internet!