I’m Fine

I’m not writing today.

I keep reminding myself that taking a day off occasionally is good. I push down the panic, knowing that it won’t be a one-day hiatus. I’m not writing tomorrow either. But I’m fine. Really.

This week, I had three days where I hit word counts of over 2,000. My story flowed, and I had a better idea of who my characters were and how their situations formed them. And now, I’m stopping cold. It’s abrupt and uncomfortable. Still, it needs to be done.

A month ago, my sister and her husband had the opportunity to go on a much-needed vacation, so I came back to California to stay with our mom. It’s been a good visit overall. We’ve played a lot of Scrabble, watched some game shows, and had a few important conversations. For the most part, Mom keeps to her room, where she reads, makes phone calls, and watches the news.

Most of my days were wide open, and I did my best to use them wisely. For the last two weeks, I concentrated on my WIP. What felt like a complete disaster of a novel is finally taking shape. According to my Facebook Memories, this feeling is common for me. It turns out I made a series of GIFs about writing a year ago today, and they perfectly relay my current feelings.

I have less than 50 pages left to type before I set it on the back burner to let it simmer before the rewrites begin. I’m really looking forward to that first editing process. This is going to be a good one.

But I’m not writing today.

Today is about washing sheets, sweeping the floor, cleaning the bathroom, and seeing my husband for the first time in a month. Tonight and tomorrow is a visit with my returning sister and brother-in-law, teary goodbyes, and the road trip home to Nevada and our family members there.

I’m looking forward to that road trip. We’ve got Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone cued up and ready to go on Audible and a planned bathroom stop at Eddie World (the largest gas station in California, where I was inspired to make this meme).

More than anything else, I’m looking forward to going home to the perfect little nest of our apartment where Theo and I plan to wrap up our Sunday night eating burgers (turkey for him, veggie for me) and fries and catching up on Bob’s Burgers together. It’ll be kinda perfect.

And on Monday, I’ll write.

But not today.

And that’s fine.