creative.mother.thinking

Again, not much time but I did most of the things I set out to do, including opening the manuscript. I’m still doing timeline stuff.

There was yoga and dishes and then I went out for my walk/run:

My husband made lunch:

I had met that mother of a student who also writes while out in the woods and we had exchanged pen names. So far I really like her book.

I went on Zoom, met with a bunch of writers and finished a sock. Then I started a hat. I’ll take pictures later today when there will be more light.

My husband, the boy and I then met for a glass of alcohol-free champagne and some salmon on toast:

We then watched a episode of ‚Columbo‘ that was pretty good, I played some more video game. did the dishes too late, started writing this post and went to bed too late.

Which was a great move the evening before the start of daylight savings time but there you are.

I went to bed only reasonably late, slept well and only dawdled a little bit. I wrote morning pages, then opened my laptop and started uploading book 3 so I could publish it.

Well, there were dumb typos in the manuscript, all introduced while proofreading. Good thing those got caught before anyone bought the book.

I did yoga and meditated a little and then ate breakfast with my husband. He was off pretty fast because he wanted to go for a run the first time in ages.

So I turned to my laptop again, corrected the typos and started the whole uploading process again. Managed to use the wrong cover at first, didn’t remember how to do any of this, so the usual.

But only an hour or so later I had uploaded all the files for the ebook and paperback on Amazon. The ebook is already live (“Masked in Silver” by Susanne Winter, book 3 in the Eva Mandel Urban Fantasy Series), the paperback will take a little longer.

Then I did the dishes, vacuumed the old part of the house, and decided to use the sunny (and cold) weather to get the vegetarian salmon I forgot the day before. My husband had another list of things he wanted from the health food store and, of course, I needed some more chocolate.

The health food store did not have veggie ersatz salmon. Neither did the other health food store but they had the vitamins the boy had asked me to get, neither had the supermarket near the train station, so I went to the exact same supermarket I had visited the day before and – finally got what I was looking for. Phew.

Husband had made an easy and quick lunch, omelette with cheese and fried zucchini:

I took a short break and then called the dentist’s office because they had sent me the invoice for the boy’s dental cleaning. I need his name to be on the invoice so I can get some of the money back from insurance. Only when I stood there on the phone, looking casually at the invoice I saw „cleaning for the boy“ written on there for the first time. Oops. I explained my mistake and said I was sorry.

And then there was the teaching of the students. I managed to reschedule all the lessons during my trip in April, yeah!

I talked briefly with my husband (and told him that the ebook was already live), did bodyweight training with the boy, ate dinner, started writing this post, did the dishes, made a list for today, played more video game and watched the documentary on the new BTS album.

And then bed.

In between all of these things I also figured out the best day and time to go to the museum next week, tidied stuff away and helped to fold the clean laundry.

Definitely a good day.

Yes, went to bed too late. And set my alarm earlier than usual because my husband had an early doctor’s appointment. So I skipped manuscript time and yoga again.

We had an early breakfast and just as I thought I should start the fire in the woodstove he was back again. We did a bit of housework and then I walked to the nearby supermarket. Only to forget one important thing so I guess I’ll get back today or tomorrow.

I actually did get the final version of the book cover and the plan was to start publishing book 3 in the afternoon.

Well.

But first lunch:

That sauce was made from leftovers and there were fresh spaghetti. Also, a bag of gummybears somehow ended up in my bag in the shop. Weird.

I had quite a bit of time in the afternoon. The plan was to play a bit of video game after lunch, then teach one student, work on publishing stuff, teach two more students and then relax.

But I picked up my controller just real quick.

On the bright side I did make some great in-game progress.

After teaching I ate a quick dinner while my husband was doing the dishes and I later joined him. I played more video game, started writing this post, made a list for today and went to bed.

And today will be full and busy again and then – Easter break!

I went to bed too late yet again. Part of me wants to give up, part of me wants to stop talking about this but not getting enough sleep would still be a problem either way.

I wrote my morning pages, opened the computer and tried finding a document with the keywords I used when publishing book 1 and 2, failed because there doesn’t seem to be such a document anywhere, and decided to skip yoga and meditation because I didn’t feel like it and my husband was already almost done with his breakfast.

I finished knitting the heel of the current sock-in-progress after breakfast, did the dishes, helped my husband order something on the internet, saw that I had an email from my cover designer, okayed the last version and went for my walk/run:

It was very windy. The weather changed quite dramatically, we’re even supposed to get snow again.

When I came back home lunch was already on the table so we ate together and talked some more:

Then I played some Genshin, took a shower and only then realized that I had forgotten about the load of laundry that was ready to be hung up.

I frantically folded the clean laundry still on the rack so that at least one of them was free, hung up two sheets and had to leave it at that because my first student was about to arrive.

I sent the boy a message to please hang up the rest of the laundry but later it turned out that my husband had had a cancelation and used that time to do all kinds of housework. He even cleaned the basement stairs.

After my last lesson I played some piano exercises, refilled the water in my piano’s humidifier and ate dinner. I read a little, played a little, did the dishes, started writing this post, made a list for today, played some more and went to bed.

Today has already started off weird because my husband had a doctor’s appointment at 7.45 which meant getting up earlier for both of us.

My big hope for today is to move book 3 forward to publication, we’ll see how that goes.

I managed to do several things that had been weighing me down for weeks. And that with not getting enough sleep again.

In the morning I did my complete morning routine including opening the note I made with everything that happens in book 3 and the blurbs from books 1 and 2.

And then I wrote a draft of the blurb and it went rather quickly.

There was yoga and a pretty late breakfast again. I did the breakfast dishes and kept adding things to my list.

First I went to the doctor’s office to leave another urine sample. I was supposed to do so two weeks ago or so. I swung by the drug store for tongue scrapers and was very proud that I did not buy any mint chocolate.

Then I went to the health food store the second time in two days and braved the meat counter. Could I order lamb roast for the Thursday before Easter? He wasn’t sure. He did show my some very nice lamb fillet but, well, that was extremely pricey and also just a teensy piece, I needed at least five times as much.

He said he might be able to order something but wasn’t sure. And then he said he had some in the back, vacuum-sealed that would keep long enough. Bingo!

I also went on to buy some spices and more chocolate and chamomile tea, all things I had forgotten to bring the day before.

The plan was to change the sheets on my bed before lunch but there wasn’t time. Lunch was an old standby, rice and lentils:

Then I had a bit of a break before my first student that I used to read (started Sarina Bowen’s „My Kind of Guy“ that morning) and play my video game. I was very proud of myself after because I am actually getting better and had a major breakthrough.

Then there was teaching. And at one point a student showed up that I had rescheduled. Only I had given her the wrong time and had double-booked myself. Oh-oh.

But, the student I had double-booked her with was the one who almost never showed up. So I told her what had happened, started teaching her and sent the other student a text asking if she would show up, and if so (she would have been almost ten minutes late at this point) if we could do her lesson a little later.

Well, turns out she did not show. And had never intended to. Crisis averted. But I would have liked to know beforehand.

Since that left me with half an hour of free time between students I then finished writing the blurb, proofread it and sent it off to the cover designer and then I went online and ordered the contact lenses I had wanted to get for weeks.

Another student, then a quick round of piano exercises and it was time to do bodyweight training with the boy.

Then dinner, I started drifting off to social media but caught myself almost in time, started writing this post, did the dishes, wrote my list for today, descaled the electric kettle and changed the BRITA filter, played some more video game and went to bed.

I had really hoped to also have time to watch TV and spin but, well, can’t have everything. I would love to finish spinning the purple Corriedale and make myself a sweater from it but, well, another day.

Somehow I did not sleep well, not quite sure why. I felt fuzzy and off, so no manuscript time. And only 5 minutes of yoga.

I tried doing everything a little earlier than usual and was somewhat successful. Because we were out of yogurt and the fruit we need for breakfast after yesterday’s breakfast I really needed to go to the store. Which I did. Twenty minutes of walking.

After putting the groceries away I went back out again, this time for a short walk/run:

My husband was equally busy so lunch was frozen pizza with salad:

And then I had a little time to myself before taking a shower and starting to teach my students.

Teaching went well, teaching a friend over Zoom was the highlight of the day. Even though I had to convince her not to cancel her lesson because she hadn’t had touched her instrument for weeks. Well, then at least you can play in the lesson. She played well and then we talked about the new BTS album and their concert at length, as one does.

So I was a little late eating dinner and also to meet the boy so he could help me with the weekly bosses in Genshin Impact. I played like an idiot but we won anyway, thanks to the boy.

After that I played some more and then somehow fell into a YouTube hole and ended up going to bed too late again.

Today will be a little less full but I realized that I had forgotten to get some stuff from the health food store and also I need to ask about ordering some lamb roast for Easter. This year will be the first that my mother-in-law won’t make the Easter lunch, so I need to get that organized in time.

I can’t wait for Easter break. And yes, I am aware that we just had a week off not too long ago but I was sick that whole week and so it wasn’t as restful as I had hoped.