Recovery Weekend

Marching Band season came to an end on Saturday, which meant that Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest and recovery. But that wasn't quite the case. Perhaps it was the early-morning phone call. Perhaps it was the aches and pains from overstressed muscles and joints. Perhaps it was the kids who were far too hyped up from something to sit still during Sunday School. Or maybe it was the headache which just refused to go away.

Whatever the reason, Sunday evening came and it was time for a complete shutdown by ten-thirty. Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and possibly free of the after-effects of a migraine.

We hope.

Adam and I attended the Writer's Group on Sunday afternoon, which was highly enjoyable. One of our favorite authors, Steve, read three chapters of his hilarious and very engrossing story about - well, I can't really tell you what it is about, but if you've ever seen "Moonlighting" or any other movie/show with witty banter between members of the opposite sex, you will understand why we find it so entertaining. (It's so funny that, even though he was really only supposed to read the latest chapter, we made him go back and re-read the first two chapters as well!)

The best part (or worst part, if you are another author envious of his ability to write funny material) is that this is his 'filler' material. You know, the mateiral an author writes when taking a break from the novel. He's afraid that readers may find his 'fluff' stuff more compelling than his main body of work. But that's the risk you take when you're talented!

Adam read a new work which centers around a couple of escaping prisoners who are tied together with a magic chain, similar to the movie 'The 39 Steps' (which, if you haven't seen, you must immediately stop now and go watch. Done? Good.) It is an interesting premise, but very difficult from the writer's standpoint in that one has to consider all the possible ramifications of such an arrangement without letting it get caught up in the logistical details. And keep the main story going.

Lucky for him that he was surrounded by so many amateur writers willing to give lots of advice!

I read my latest, which was intended to be a guest blog entry for Susie's so that she could focus on finishing her novel (which is currently in rewrite).

We stayed far longer than we had intended, but the conversation was interesting and there was much to discuss with regard to the upcoming Writer's Conference in April (mostly about how to justify the $195 cost). I'm not sure that it will be justifiable with regard to our particular situation, considering it's not the main focus, and with so many other things going on in life, all of them requiring serious financial investment (house, kids, college, etc.), it's difficult to see how it could be - but it is an intiguing thought, to spend three days surrounded by the world of reading, writing and publishing.

We had to stop by the office supply store on the way home to pick up some ink for the printer. Can't figure out how we go through it so quickly! And by the time we got home, we had to turn around and head back to church for the High School group. While the boys were engaged in that activity, I spent an hour or so repairing some shelves in the library, replacing the 'emergency' supports (someone attempted to replace broken shlef supports with screws, but the screws had merely collapsed under the weight of all the books), then went home for a while to relax before going back to church with Cheryl and picking up the boys and stopping by the store to grab some milk (an entire gallon had mysteriously disappeared between Sunday morning and Sunday evening - immagine!) and coming home to have our Family Meeting and then -

Well, by then, my head was feeling like a grenade had gone off inside, so I said my good-nights and crawled into bed and disappeared into La-La Land, hoping that today would dawn bright and sunny and pain-free. But, alas, I'm nearly fifty, so that ain't gonna happen any time soon. Too many achy bones and breaky joints.