Whoa, what happened there? Sorry. I’ve been busy. Doing stuff. Stuff I can’t write about and don’t really want to write about. But also stuff I should be writing about. So! An Update.

I finished a round of edits and rewrites on the novel. I started writing over my lunch hours and sometimes before work. Very fun. Very productive. The only hard part was coming back out of that world I was reading/editing in to go back to work. Once I sink in, an hour is no time at all. The good news is that I’m training myself to sink in at a moment’s notice. Progress, since I don’t have the luxury of time anymore. No whining, just writing.

I’ve been reading. I think. Let me check my list. OK, not a lot of progress there. Only one book finished since we last met here.

72. Remember Me?– Sophie Kinsella
Unadulterated chick lit. Was…OK. Had an interesting set up, a nice character with an interesting dilemma and then…something just didn’t come together for me. Am passing along my copy to a friend to see what she thinks.

I’ve also been trying to get through The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, but that is a rather thick and slow-going enterprise. Wilkie is slowing down my reading progress. Also have another writing book in progress, but since I’ve been writing during my lunch hours, I’ve been reading less.

Went to a reading for Roosevelt’s MFA program last night. The first one in a long time, alas, that I didn’t plan and/or read in. Lots of good stuff, and a couple of pieces I thought were really fantastic. (Watch out, world, for Heather Cox and Emily Humphreys.) I’m really happy to see the program building up like it is, to see so many students participating and so many people out to support them. I like to think I had a small part in the sense of community they seem to have now, but maybe they would have had it anyway. They’re a good bunch.

One of the students asked me if I was nostalgic, and I said no. Not for some of it. But I guess I am, for some other parts. Having all the time in the world to write, and all the time in the world to spend with people who understand that inclination. Yeah, I miss that.