Return of the Luddite

Okay, I think it's been my longest absence from this blog so far.   I kept thinking, "I should blog something."

Anything.

But then a week went by.  Then another.

Then a month.  Or two.

And I realized that all of a sudden the summer is practically gone.

Panic ensues.

It's kind of a metaphor.  Or synonym.  Or something.  This time thing is going too fast.

I remember being a kid.  Everything took FOREVER.  I was always waiting for something.  Waiting for birthdays.  Waiting to be excused from the table.  Waiting for the school bell to ring.  Waiting to get bigger so I could do what my older brother did.  Waiting for Christmas.  I think that Christmas Eve night was the longest night of the year.  Eight hours took a week to get through.

My whole small kid life was sitting on the sand pile at the top of the hourglass, waiting to get through to the other side, slightly pissed off that it was taking too long.

Now I feel like I've gone through.

Now it is going too fast.  I want to go back up to the top again.

Oh well.

So this summer has been spent doing a few things:

1. Gardening

Coleus, browellia, impatiens, and creeping jenny.

2. Swimming Lessons - Sena has just passed from Pike to Polliwog, which if you ask me, seems like it would be a step back.  I don't know but I'm pretty sure a pike swims better than a tadpole.  Hmpf.
3.  I illustrated a picture book for a friend.
4. I wrote a second book after the first one didn't sell (but came very close by going to an acquisition meeting).
5. My agent said the second book was too "quiet and literary" for a debut novel.  I took that as a compliment.
6. So I came up with a third novel (more commercial) that I'm writing now.  I'm at 10K words and plan to have the majority of the rough draft finished by the end of the month.
7. I am overly optimistic.  Probably.


So, that's pretty much it.

We also took a trip to California - San Francisco and wine country, which was also our very first trip without the tatertot.  I was nervous to leave her five days with Grandma and Grandpa, but it turns out that they could actually take care of small children just fine.  Who knew?

It also helps when you give them chocolate chip pancakes and bacon.

Stockholm syndrome begins with pancakes and bacon

And give them snakes to play with.

Needless to say, I don't think she missed us at all.