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The pattern…

One of the best things about my life is that it never stays the same.  There’s a pattern, a cycle, of work. I draft a novel, and that’s one kind of work. Then I revise a novel, and that’s another kind of work.  When a book comes out, I promote and visit schools, and that’s yet another kind of work.  In the in-between times I dream about new projects and scribble the beginnings to things I’ll probably never finish.  In and around all of those tasks, I take care of my kids and home, and that is (obviously) the biggest, hardest, most important job of all, in its way.

Right now I am in a rare and lovely moment.  A place in the cycle that sometimes feels like the mythical light at the end of the tunnel.  I have turned in a book, and I feel pretty good about it, and I’m mulling over new ideas, but I don’t have anything due. I’m not under contract.  I’m also not traveling a lot.  So I have the time to just LIVE.

Meanwhile, Lew has strep throat, and a man is arriving today to rip out our disintegrating kitchen counter, and we need to finish our taxes, and refinance our house.    Fun stuff like that.

A friend said to me yesterday, “Oh, it’s too bad you don’t have time to relax and enjoy a little break, with all of that going on…”

But I just keep thinking, “Wow! How would I handle THESE things if I hadn’t already turned in my book? I’m so lucky.”  Isn’t it interesting how things have a way of working out?

So today I’ll take Lew to get a new toothbrush, and make him soup, and clean out the kitchen cabinets for the contractor, and sort through the credit card receipts from last year.  And enjoy it, as part of the pattern.

Because it won’t last long.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 at 6:53 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “The pattern…”

  1. Venessa Ann Schwarz Says:
    February 28th, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    Hi Laurel. Congratulations of your new found bliss! Sounds very wonderful. I have a question. After years of getting nice handwritten and personal rejection letters, for the first time I had an editor interested in my manuscript. They suggested certain revisions. I freaked out slightly, but now fully recovered. Okay. Sort of recovered. But I wonder how long I have to make these revisions. A week? A month? I’ve completed the revision in one week. Now afraid to send it back, like to sit on it for a bit. Should I? Really don’t know. Do you have an opinion? I’d love to hear it. Take care and thank you so much!

  2. laurel Says:
    February 28th, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    I do!!! The answer is that publishing moves at a glacially slow pace, and if they liked your work enough to ask to see it again (that is HUGE! Congrats!!!) they will be happy to see it when you send it. SO take the time you need to do a really complete job of the revision. Try really hard to listen to the notes, without losing your sense of the piece. But take time.

    AND GOOD LUCK!

  3. Venessa Ann Schwarz Says:
    February 28th, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    Wonderful! Thank you so much Laurel. Especially good to be reminded to “listen to the notes” because it’s easy for me to go off on a tangent! Whew! The pressure. But again, thank you so much!

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