Things I Am Doing

1. Procrastinating with Nanowrimo. I have not written very much, but I have been thinking deeply about one of the characters in this book. She is going to change; she is too much of a stupid caricature in the current version. I have thought more about her backstory and now I'm puzzling over how she needs to behave and push the story forward. So maybe I'm not really procrastinating -- I'm incubating.

2. Practicing a very simple juggling routine. There is this sort of jokey talent show to benefit the company's yearly Big Charity Drive on Friday, and one of the folks I work with asked me to juggle in it. This is a Good Thing, actually, because it has forced me to practice. I'm a little worried that it will be boring because the song I've chosen (John Boute's Treme -- if you watched the HBO show then you've heard it) is over four minutes long and I don't know that many tricks well enough really make it dazzling. Oh well. I'll be lucky to get through it without dropping everything.

3. Fighting off a cold. I may lose this battle, but if I can just keep the worst at bay until I get through the frickin' talent show I will have succeeded. Then I can collapse into a snivelling heap and be sick for a couple days.

4. Slowly cleaning out the basement. I have gone through four boxes and one suitcase of my mother's things, ruthlessly tossing out stuff that she held dear but that has no meaning for the rest of us. The suitcase is now full of framed photos, which I will parcel out among my siblings and their kids at various family gatherings. I also emptied several penny stashes and converted them to currency -- over $40.00 worth. Yep, that over 4,000 pennies. Thank you, Coinstar!

5. Looking forward to having next week off. I am planning to write and clean. I may have to succumb to the cold, but let's hope for the best.