Having Kathy Manos Penn at our book club meeting was amazing. For me, personally, it was as if she breathed excitement into the craft of writing. Sometimes, for those who delight in writing, the exercise becomes a bit tired, a bit tedious, and a bit mindless. Engaging with Kathy was like a breath of fresh air. This morning I woke up raring to go. I have two writing projects on my plate and 1 painting half done as well as a triptych waiting to be sketched out and then painted. And there’s the reading. I have so much reading to do. These tasks are all wonderful to
do, but dividing the day up to give each a fair amount of time is it’s own task.
So, today I wrote. It was great (not that I am sure that what I wrote was great – just the exercise itself was great). I did keep MSNBC on in the background. You never know when one must interrupt to keep up with “Breaking News.” Kathy had said that she doesn’t stop until she gets her 1000 words in. I didn’t get that many. I think that I have to practice some more. I had to stop several times to consider what I had written and then there were the family interruptions that must take priority at the very instance one is called. However, it’s not a contest. There are times
that one can get the 1000 words and other times when one is using a 1000 words to listen to a daughter’s problem or when one is talking on the phone to a friend who has to share something. It works out.
September will start out with a bang. Besides the first of the month being the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, Diana – the daughter – and I are going to Bouchercon in San Diego. Bouchercon is the Sisters in Crime conference that’s held once a year in a series of rotating cities. Since this year it’s in San Diego, Diana and I decided that I’m ambulatory enough to drive down and stay overnight in a hotel. This doesn’t sound like much, but folks, it’s my first big girl outing since the beginning of Covid. My left leg has been a continuing problem along with a back that I couldn’t sell even on Craigslist; thus, the stay home stance except for brief restaurant visits and of course doctor appointments. We’re staying only one night but leaving home early enough that Friday will be a whole day as well as Saturday for the conference. I am so excited. Diana is bringing the travel wheelchair because the conference hotel has a huge lobby that goes round and round forever it seems. There will be authors and publishers and members of Sisters in Crime. It will be amazing, and I’ll tell you about it when we get back.
Meanwhile, I don’t know how many of you have already gone vinyl, but I decided that relying on Pandora and Spotify for the kind of music that I enjoy writing to is not being played enough on the two venues. It was time that I buy a record player. Diana doesn’t know because I didn’t discuss it with her and simply bought it from Amazon. I love Amazon. It answered all of my wishes during Covid, and the habit has grown ever so much. Anyway, Diana will be surprised when she gets home from work. Now I have to purchase some recordings.
Oh, the joy! I hope that none of you was caught in Hurricane Idalia and hope that your September begins with as much fun as mine.
Keep reading and writing,
Karin Diskin