This is the Celebrating the Small Things blog hop, run by Lexa Cain and her two wonderful co-hosts L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge and Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits.It has been a long and hard several months. Make that years. Disappointments, the realization that certain things are not likely ever to happen, learning yesterday that a job for which I had a phone interview, for which my interviewer was very excited, already had an offer out on it, but she had spoken to them and was pushing my candidacy. (With an offer already out there.)
It is a good thing to go along and count your blessings, but sometimes you can't help feeling like someone standing at a gate and looking through the bars at a beautiful landscape that you can't enter, no matter how hard you try.Sometimes you have to accept that and move on without wincing at the cliche'.
It's been a long haul and I am very tired.
But:
I signed up for NaNoWriMo and will be finishing my first draft of book #3 in my Memphis Cycle series. The chunk out of the middle. I will keep it completely separate from the rest of the book. 50,000 words will be a goodly number to allow me to weave the threads together and bring all the characters and their conflicts and joys together at the battle itself, then, skipping one day (already written) continue until they circle around and head for home. That story has been chiding me for years, and I will, by golly, finish it. It has some of my best writing in it as it stands. That will be enjoyable
And - my top celebration - my 88 year old mother, one of two very great joys and blessings in my life, came through her hip surgery on Monday, is experiencing reduced pain, and will be moving into a rehab center that she likes, attached to a community she knows and has friends in. The grinding pain is gone.Mom's lack of pain and increased mobility trumps any sadness I'm feeling and, by golly, it's worth celebrating. Here's to my mother. And NaNoWriMo.
What are you celebrating?
Life is never easy. I wish you luck with NaNoWriMo, I could never do it. And most of all I'm so glad your mother made it through the surgery and wishing her well!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cathrina! She's such a character, and the only thing that troubled her were the stockings they made her wear that inflated and deflated (preventing blood clots). She said 'They feel very odd!' For NaNo I have to turn off my internet or I end up spending three hours playing Tetris....
ReplyDeleteHere's wishing your mother continued recovery!
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy to hear your mother did so well with the surgery. It's already quite a blessing that she's still with you, but so much better that she's feeling less pain now. Life is good. :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck getting the job of your dreams. And with your newest book! How cool is THAT? (Very cool...)
Such wonderful news about your mother.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with NaNo. One of these years, I'll try it.
I'm so glad to hear your mom's doing well! Yay for having a goal for NaNo. Sorry to hear about the job. Sadly, I know exactly how you feel about years of hard work amounting to nothing. In the US, we're taught from school (and media) that hard work pays off. In Egypt, the people learn that hard work makes you a chump, and the thing to do is the least amount of it. But I'll never give up thinking my/our way is right, and will just keep my poor mashed nose to the grindstone. Good luck with your nose too! LOL
ReplyDeleteHi, Diana, gosh that's great news about your mother. I have a dear friend here who had his knee replaced with a prosthetic at the age of 90. As he says, he would have been an invalid otherwise. Instead, he's "had seven good years." So it's well worth the surgery procedure. I wish her a swift recovery. :-)
ReplyDeleteGotta keep going, and those little things (or big stuff this week) can really help.
ReplyDeleteWonderful news about your mother. I hope all those frustrations and disappointments turn around soon, and you get exactly what you want and need in your life - including a shiny new draft at the end of November.
ReplyDeleteI agree, 2015 has been quite the year, and yes, it's been extremely tiring at times. But there are so many things to be thankful for in spite of it, that I can't help but smile just the same. Cheers to you and your mom! So glad she came through surgery well and will have so much less pain and added mobility. So glad you appreciate her and celebrate her wellness. We only get one mom, and it's truly nice when she means the world to us :)
ReplyDeleteDiana: You are no longer "looking through the gate." You have entered the grounds; you OWN the real estate! Now, all you have to do is pay the taxes; in other words, keep writing!
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