Our tiny town has tested positive for mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus…an illness that can result in severe or fatal sickness in a small percentage of cases It was the headline in yesterday’s paper, and as a result, I bolted out of bed at the whine of a mosquito in my ear early this morning.
Now that I no longer have to make lunches or school breakfasts, I’ve been sleeping in this summer. Not late, just an extra half-hour or so…but the disruption in my routine has brought about a lapse in writing output. The buzz of the mosquito was timely though, in that I had a writing/work-related phone call scheduled for 7:45. So there I was at 7:30, all showered and breakfasted. A piping hot cup of coffee sat at the ready as I gathered my pen and pad of paper, checked email and cleared off my desk the way, previous to this summer, I had for the last two years at home and for so many years before that in a professional office.
When the phone rang exactly on time, I conducted an hour long phone interview. After that, things seemed to revert to a comfort-zone that’s been gone for the last two months. Once I hung up the receiver, I sat at the desktop and constructed a resume for this morning’s client, staying with it until just before noon, after which I began drafting a South Shore Living blog piece. I got a good chunk of that written before giving myself permission to stop.
Those hours of dedicated and fruitful writing made it possible to suggest a guilt-free shopping expedition to my daughter and off we went, for a late lunch (writing-research related since we ate at the scene covered in the above SSL Blog post draft) and then a perusal through the off-price department store. It’s just past 5:00 p.m. now and here I am back at the computer, wonder of wonders, completing a Middle Passages post.
What a magnificent day. After this, my reward— a seat on the couch by the open window, listening to the drone of a distant lawnmower, as I immerse myself in Solomon’s Oak, a novel by Jo-Anne Mapson which I already love and is the best way I know how to treat myself after a day of good and disciplined work.
