My first weekend

It's been a long time since I let my weekend be a true weekend. Tpyically when I'm working on a book, I see every day as a work day. It's one of the difficulties of working at home--it's very easy to slip upstairs and do a little work, even when you're supposed to be taking a breather.

I got really burned out after working through the summer to get my rewrite finished. I was frustrated because I felt like I had no time to recharge, to do things that help me relax, like scrapbooking and reading and working on my fledgling crochet skills. Every spare minute was going towards getting the book done, and by the time it was done, so was I.

So I told Dan I was going to start forcing myself to take a weekend. It doesn't have to be Saturday and Sunday, and it doesn't even have to be two consecutive days. Just two days during the week when I can hide myself away and do things that fill me back up. Creativity doesn't exist in a vacuum, and my writing creativity is fueled when my craft-y creativity is exercised.

So I have some new yarn and am going to start a hat for Dan on my cheater loom. I'm going to finish my 2007 Heritage Makers scrapbook and get it printed. I'm going to start my 2008, 2009, and California-to-Colorado move scrapbooks. I'm going to start PJ's first year baby book. I'm going to pull out the crocheting my mother-in-law started me on and try to pick that back up. And I'm going to READ. I'm in the middle of Christa Parrish's "Watch Over Me"--she's a fabulous new voice in Christian fiction, and I highly recommend her--and just started Diana Gabaldon's newest installment in the Outlander series, which is not as engaging as her other books were, though that might just be becuase it's been over two years since I read the last book and have forgotten the majority of the subplots and minor characters.

Today I'm pinned beneath a sleeping PJ on the couch and watching hockey (Go Avalanche!) and football (Go Irish! Go Illinois!). Once Abby is up from her nap we're all going downtown for Oktoberfest. I'm really having to fight the impulse to do some research or something, but I don't want to start giving myself excuses. The desire to be productive is going to have to be satisfied by the 4 loads of laundry I've done today. I have a hard time letting myself "not to anything," but I need to remember that margin and recreation DOES do something--it refreshes and reorients and re-energizes.

PJ is awake; Abby is going on 3 hours of nap and should probably be dragged out of bed soon so she's not awake until 11PM. The last load of laundry is spinning in the washing machine and it's sunny out for Oktoberfest. My first weekend in a long time. I think I could get used to this.