I’m on schedule.
I’m starting my revision momentarily.
I’m on my 1400 calorie diet, eating well, and exercising.
I’ve been reading some great books on creativity. I was always a Baggar Vance fan despite the lack luster reviews and Will Smith being an asshole about his role in it. So I’m reading a book by Pressfield on work ethic mostly. My son recommended it and a book by Rick Rubin the creative act.
But as I get ready here to do my thing, this robin mama is doing hers outside my French doors. (It’s a lovely, lovely spring day, going to 72 again today and tomorrow. Of course, here in upper Michigan, there’s snow in the forecast for next week. But I’ll be reading out there in the sun this afternoon.)
The problem is I was just about to take down the fall wreath and put up an American flag done on a piece of wood when I saw this morning that this robin is busily making a nest in it. I’d just let her go about it, but it’s right next to the door, very low, and a chair usually is underneath it. She’ll likely be protective of those eggs and babies.
So I don’t know what to do. She’s been working away so hard all morning. And I know what it’s like to have your work torn apart: people trashing a house you just cleaned; circumstances ruining your diet to be polite; being cancelled to non-existent state by a press that had published me and been eager to see my next work, had it and then wouldn’t even give me the courtesy of a rejection. Probably because they didn’t want to put in writing WHY.
So my heart goes out to her.
At least she’s not a blue jay. I hate them as a mother blue jay attacked me once when I was a kid for getting too close to her nest. That is pretty frightening when you’re six. That movie The Birds always gave me the real willies.
So here I go. I’m going to revise for a while, start bacon and eggs, walk my dog, then hit the deck and sunshine with all my reading material.
I’ve also started reading an hour or so at night and making notes before I put on my old sit-coms (I’m on to Newhart, which isn’t nearly as good as The Bob Newhart Show, but Larry and the Darryls are a bit amusing, I guess. I’m not real fond of Joanna, but at least they got rid of that idiot in the first two years and that girl–I already forgot their names).
I’m limiting the news to a couple hours and may limit it to the weekend. We’ll see.
Lucid dreaming: I’m back doing it, so that’s a good sign. But last night, I dreamed about my best friend from high school. She’s had bi-polar and struggled with alcoholism most of her life. She does a lot of things that are hurtful and then claims to not remember them. But I dreamed I was headed to a restaurant with her. Her hair was its dark almost black color, not gray, and it was long and looked greasy and dry all at the same time. Then we were side-tracked and these medical people said they were going to shave her head (I had also cared for her when she had breast cancer) — but this seemed to be some insinuation that she had lice. I ranted and raved at the people in charge and they ended up leaving an inch or so all over her head. She has such a lovely face (she once looked like Elizabeth Taylor in coloring or maybe Vivian Leigh–we couldn’t get inside a bar for 30 seconds before men rushed over and told her she was the most beautiful woman they’d ever seen), anyway, her face is so lovely, the short hair was ok on her. We ten proceeded to head to the restaurant, found this uber driver. But some other guy jumped into the car with us. He apparently stuck some drugs of some kind under my ass, and I don’t remember much between that and my being arrested. But it seemed in the dream that I was going to live with my friend again. We had been roommates in college and she was married to my brother for about five years. The thought of living with her scared me in the dream. But I had the feeling I could direct the dream and somehow managed to not get arrested or live with her…but the dream made me think I should call her today. She almost died a bit ago (she won’t face it’s the booze doing it). So I’ll check on her–we recently semi-repaired our relationship. And she’s been on my mind…
Happy Thursday. I hope your day is as lovely as mine.
Oh, I’ll be posting writing related content, excerpts and things on Substack most days, after my work…
L.E.K. 