I'm a little short on sleep this morning; I didn't fall asleep 'til after midnight, so I set my alarm for 8, and I woke up at 6:30 anyway. This is okay, 'cause I really did need to get up this early. It's just past 7 now, and I have about an hour to get my Said reading finished and my response piece written, which should be manageable. I meant to do it yesterday afternoon, but the time just got swallowed up; I'm not even sure how. David called for part of it about magazine stuff; I think I frittered away the rest of it on-line. Oh, Kev called too about this trip. That's right.
I'm going to go out next week, though Kev has warned me repeatedly that he may have very little free time to spend with me. My first inclination was to get snide and petulant about that -- what, I fly all the way out to see you and you can't even promise to spend gobs of time with me? But eventually (around midnight last night), reason raised her head and pointed out that it's not his fault that he's busy, that he did suggest that if I came two weeks later he'd have lots more time, that I had other reasons for coming this weekend and that it's not fair to punish him for that. I vowed to be sane about it, which I promise you is much more fun than turning into a neurotic nuisance who whines about being neglected. :-) (Also, you get to feel virtuous. And while it's a thin line between virtue and martyrdom (and martyrdom is very very bad for relationships), I'm getting better at walking that line).
What I really want to do today is go work on "Challah". The other thing I was thinking about last night was how to rearrange the structure -- I'm thinking of taking my linear narrative and shooting it all to hell. Should be fun. I'm trying to decide whether it's cheating to start with a scene like Shefali and Gabriel in bed. Is that messing with the reader too much? I know, I know, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. It's just a question of in what ways can I legitimately create suspense without the reader feeling tricked or manipulated. Will be fun to find out.
Instead of working on it, though, I'm going to go teach and take class. My students hand in 50 papers today, but I think I'm not even going to try to start grading them 'til this weekend. Friday. If I don't start them Friday, you have permission to yell at me. I finish up around 2, run some errands, and then come home. I think I have workshop tonight, but I'll still have about four hours in between, so if I have energy, I may start work on "Challah" then. May just nap, or read. I have so much reading!
I was complaining a little to Kev about it (who is now a post-doc, for those who haven't been following along), and he kindly pointed out that my professors were undoubtedly reading as much as I was, or more. I think he thought this would be comforting. What it actually means is that by going to grad school I have committed myself to an ever-increasing amount of reading, that won't ease up just because I've graduated. It'll get worse. Hmph. *And* I'll have to serve on committees...tell me again why I wanted a Ph.D?
(Oh, that's right. I was jealous of Kevin's. Hmmm...not the best reason. :-)