Last week I told you where I am. Now here is what I’ve been up to. I mean, Blog is short for weB LOG, after all, so here’s a log entry for ya.
I spent three months (almost) in our house in Lizant, France last Spring. Pretty much all Spring, although I was able to enjoy (?) the first of this year’s now famous heat waves. The house retains heat (or cool) pretty well, so with fans, it was okay. Not always great, but okay, so long as I opened all the windows at night and closed them by nine or ten in the morning. There is more I’d like to get done to the place before we move in, from simply painting to overseeing some major remodeling of an old Fish & Chips shop, and a lot of stuff in between. But that will have to wait until the family that has rented it, who are shopping for a house of their own, find and close the deal on said house of their own. It takes about four months to buy a house in France and I don’t think that they have an offer in yet.
This is complicated by the fact that ma bonne mere, mother-in-law, has announced her intention to move back to Phoenix to live with a different daughter this fall. Since her living in our house in Henderson is the reason we couldn’t just up and move to France, well, now we can just up and move to France. Once our house is available, that is. The upside is that they are adding money to our French bank account on a monthly basis. It’s hard to be too upset about that, as our remodeling will probably cost, um rough estimate: a lot!
While I was in France I demonstrated the general rule that breaking any sort of writers’ block may be best accomplished by doing something completely different. I think living in a foreign country (less foreign seeming than it used to be) qualifies. I started a new project, unlike anything I’ve ever done before. I like it. I feel like I must write it, and, amazingly, I don’t really care what the world may think of it. It’s all authentic, all real, and, by cracky, a fantasy. So, I’ve been cranking out a chapter a day (most days) since early June. I’m sure it sucks bigly, which is why I’m looking forward to revising and revising, which probably will start soon. You may see this one for sale yet, folks. As I said, I like it.
And, after years, I’m finally able to do regular runs again. Last week a total of 2.9 blistering miles, with a pace as fast as 12:44. The one-legged man with a bad ankle is having trouble keeping up! And I read, and I watch TV (mostly streamed,) and, well, heck, this is getting long. I’ll post again, maybe even with something funny. ‘Cause I am doing more than I’ve revealed so far. Have a great week, people! Au revoir!