Sunday diary
Jul. 31st, 2005 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deborahjrossToday will be a break in our usual Sunday routine. On weekdays, Dave (Dave Trowbridge, my husband) heads off to his day job and I do my morning stuff -- exercise, oatmeal, piano, then settle into writing. More about all of these downtopic some times. Sundays, he'll make waffles, one of the few treats he can cook without wheat (he uses oat and barley flours), and then off to church/meeting. When we met, he was Episcopalian, and I'd go most Sundays as part of sharing-our-lives. (I'm Jewish, raised non-observant, but exploring it more deeply these last ten years, not a temple member due to distance). In the last few months, he has been worshipping with the Quakers, if that is the right word. It's called "silent meeting for worship."
I'm very happy to go along. I've known Quakers ("Friends") since my college days, and one of my strategies when in a strange town is to look up the local meeting for a quick and easy way to find my sort of people. Mostly, I meditate, sitting in a half-lotus, since the chairs are wide enough to make that possible. I'm in my late 50s, and my knees will still do that, so I enjoy it while I can. Having that hour to just sit and let everything quiet down is wonderful, or perhaps the word is wonder-filled.
Today, however, I will stay at home, getting ready to host 4 Japanese high school students, over here through a language exchange organized by UCSC (U Cal Santa Cruz). Just for lunch, but some prep is necessary. I moved up here from LA in 1999, and the next year (2000/2001), hosted a Japanese exchange student for the entire year. It was something I'd always wanted to do, and Rose was trying to teach herself Japanese. So I'm looking forward to another little bit of cultural exchange this afternoon.
I may get a bit of writing done afterwards, or not. I'm still in minor-decompression mode from extra work days last week, so some play time is indicated. When I moved here, I was a single working mom and writing a book every year to year-and-a-half. Truly deranged, I admit. I did scheduling and reception for a cardiologist in Santa Cruz. Now I usually work one day a week, doing medical assisting (that is, taking patients' vital signs before their office visits, doing ECGs, refilling Rxes, that sort of thing). Our main medical assistant was out, taking care of her husband post-op, so I put in extra time on a particularly nutso week.
One thing I learned from working full time was to honor my need for down-time. I'm way too self-driven at the best of times; what I need to enforce is rest, not production. I set page quotas only for days I didn't work . . . and negotiation for days I did. "All you have to do is LOOK at the last page you wrote . . . all you have to do is add ONE sentence . . . all you have to do is add ONE paragraph . . ." Actually, the important thing was that I keep my mind in the scene at hand. I used my lunch hours to walk on the hills in back of the hospital (actually the cemetary is in back of the hospital, an interesting juxtaposition, and the road winds between them, then up past successive groves of oak, eucalyptus, and redwood) and would plan out the next scene/chapter. That's a technique I used a lot when I was first writing professionally and had small children. I'd plan things out in my head while pushing a stroller, washing dishes, any other "dead time." That way, when I did get 10 minutes at the typewriter (which tells you how long ago this was) I would be prepared to write like crazy.
So today, maybe. I just finished Chapter 20 of THE SEVEN-PETALED SHIELD and need to think how to enter the next one. This is the 2/3 point, and I need to start shaping the end. Or I can noodle around with the outline for the next Darkover book, THE CHILDREN OF KINGS. It needs a bit more fleshing out before I send it off to the MZB Literary Works Trust for approval. We'll see how I feel once I've dropped the students back at UCSC.
have a grand day, everyone!
Deborah
I'm very happy to go along. I've known Quakers ("Friends") since my college days, and one of my strategies when in a strange town is to look up the local meeting for a quick and easy way to find my sort of people. Mostly, I meditate, sitting in a half-lotus, since the chairs are wide enough to make that possible. I'm in my late 50s, and my knees will still do that, so I enjoy it while I can. Having that hour to just sit and let everything quiet down is wonderful, or perhaps the word is wonder-filled.
Today, however, I will stay at home, getting ready to host 4 Japanese high school students, over here through a language exchange organized by UCSC (U Cal Santa Cruz). Just for lunch, but some prep is necessary. I moved up here from LA in 1999, and the next year (2000/2001), hosted a Japanese exchange student for the entire year. It was something I'd always wanted to do, and Rose was trying to teach herself Japanese. So I'm looking forward to another little bit of cultural exchange this afternoon.
I may get a bit of writing done afterwards, or not. I'm still in minor-decompression mode from extra work days last week, so some play time is indicated. When I moved here, I was a single working mom and writing a book every year to year-and-a-half. Truly deranged, I admit. I did scheduling and reception for a cardiologist in Santa Cruz. Now I usually work one day a week, doing medical assisting (that is, taking patients' vital signs before their office visits, doing ECGs, refilling Rxes, that sort of thing). Our main medical assistant was out, taking care of her husband post-op, so I put in extra time on a particularly nutso week.
One thing I learned from working full time was to honor my need for down-time. I'm way too self-driven at the best of times; what I need to enforce is rest, not production. I set page quotas only for days I didn't work . . . and negotiation for days I did. "All you have to do is LOOK at the last page you wrote . . . all you have to do is add ONE sentence . . . all you have to do is add ONE paragraph . . ." Actually, the important thing was that I keep my mind in the scene at hand. I used my lunch hours to walk on the hills in back of the hospital (actually the cemetary is in back of the hospital, an interesting juxtaposition, and the road winds between them, then up past successive groves of oak, eucalyptus, and redwood) and would plan out the next scene/chapter. That's a technique I used a lot when I was first writing professionally and had small children. I'd plan things out in my head while pushing a stroller, washing dishes, any other "dead time." That way, when I did get 10 minutes at the typewriter (which tells you how long ago this was) I would be prepared to write like crazy.
So today, maybe. I just finished Chapter 20 of THE SEVEN-PETALED SHIELD and need to think how to enter the next one. This is the 2/3 point, and I need to start shaping the end. Or I can noodle around with the outline for the next Darkover book, THE CHILDREN OF KINGS. It needs a bit more fleshing out before I send it off to the MZB Literary Works Trust for approval. We'll see how I feel once I've dropped the students back at UCSC.
have a grand day, everyone!
Deborah
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
aftermath
Date: 2005-07-31 07:40 pm (UTC)Oka and The Bug. The Bug is a laser pointer cat toy, shaped like a big cricket. It's Oka's favorite toy. He will leap into the air and pounce on the little red dot, like a fox on a mouse. He never tires of it, and will cock his head and stare at the rug "Where is it? Where is it?"
Then we went for a short walk and picked blackberries. I think it was just too hot for the poor kids. We brought them back and fed them ice water, then they showed us origami (their school project) and various of us played piano. Meaning, I stumbled through a piece that fell utterly apart, and one of the girls played very well a couple of advanced pieces. Then back. I managed to get both of the girls to talk with me, but only a few words out of the boys. Not sure if that was a cultural, language-problem, or adolescent gender thing.
Now, sticky and tired, I am off to shower and bed-with-book. Oh, and I did get a page of SHIELD written. Will probably delete it tomorrow, but at least the chapter's started!
no subject
Date: 2005-08-01 05:22 pm (UTC)Oh, we need to chat re Laguna... what days are taken up w/too many guests, i.e., which ones would be best for us to visit? 'cause I have a nice big chunk of vacation time stored up... I might (emphasis on MIGHT) even have enough to do the week... but I don't know who all else is going to be there and I don't want to crowd the cottage. ;)
TAB
Date: 2005-08-01 09:16 pm (UTC)I'll email you @manawolf.org about Laguna. You do check your email these days, yes? I'm planning on driving down Friday night so we can do dinner or breakfast or whatever, and then get an early start, so as to not miss a full day of beach.
Re: TAB
Date: 2005-08-11 10:43 am (UTC)