More specifically, this morning I have to take in my car which has been having its little mechnical difficulties light turn on every time I start it, and also take in my computer, which has been having weird issues with the Finder, which I fear presages a hard drive crash. I have a back-up old laptop in case this one has to go away for a while, and I've backed up all the info on this one. But still. There's a part of my head that thinks mechanical things should just work, y'know?
I did a lot of e-mail and errand stuff yesterday, including replacing a plastic planter holding dead plants with a metal one holding live plants. I think the plants I originally planted needed more sun than they got on my north-facing balcony. The shift is a big improvement; the dead plants were depressing the heck out of me. And I was excited to see that Jayson was having a 60% off sale on tropical plants. I got a lovely bougainvillea for my bedroom, with bright red flower bracts. I hope I can keep it alive. It should get several hours of western sun a day; I hope that's enough for it to survive through the winter. In spring, I can take it out on the deck and let it soak in sun...
I didn't get to revising the end of Part One yesterday, but I did (eventually, at 11 p.m., because I was feeling too guilty and stressed about not writing to go to sleep) do some revision, and still have hopes of finishing Part One soon. I realized, talking to Kevin about a scene that's giving me problems, that one thing that's seriously hindered the writing of this book is how little I've been talking out loud about it. With BiM, I think I talked over most of the stories in it out loud at some point, with Jed or Karen or Kevin or David. With the novel, I've been getting great e-mail feedback from people, but that's only helpful for pointing out problems; it's not what I need for thinking out solutions. I think I have to see if Kevin is up for reading the whole thing, scene by scene, with me, and letting me talk it out to him. I think it'll make for a much better book, but um...it may be just a little time-consuming for him. We'll see.
This afternoon, write and exercise. Late afternoon, graduate student reception on campus (and I think I forgot to mention that Monday's class went well -- it went well :-) We reviewed POV before critiquing, using LeGuin's chapter from Steering the Craft, and I think that was helpful).
This evening, some of my girlfriends are coming by for dinner and craft night. We will putz about with craft supplies. It will be therapeutic and fun. I was getting all stressed out last night over whether I could get everything done today, writing and exercising and cooking and the like. And Kevin pointed out that I didn't actually *have* to cook. I hadn't promised them that I would cook. They'll be just fine with stuff I pick up from the store. And of course they will, but that hadn't even occurred to me; sometimes I get so frazzled that my mind just gets fixated on a sequence of actions and I can't seem to think that maybe there are other, more reasonable options.
Breathe, Mary Anne. Breathe.