2021 Life Logs, Day 28: The Writing Process
Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Wintry Mix; High 33, Low 10 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The Writing Process . . . brainstorming, preparing, drafting, revising, proofreading. At least that is what I taught first graders to do. Now I am having to practice that process over and over with each chapter of my proposed book about the Voyage of Windbird. I find it was easier to teach the process than to do it myself! I was on a roll last winter and spring, but going by the dates on my revisions, April 20th was the last time I have touched my writing. With the nudge from Justin yesterday, I did dive in today. But it took all day to go back over the introduction and two chapters that I have already written. I still need to revise Chapter 2 and will start tomorrow with that. Chapter 3 is about preparing to sail around the world. I have outlined that chapter and will hopefully come up with a first draft tomorrow as well.
It is really cold outside and will remain that way until Monday. Tonight’s low will be 10 degrees F and it is only supposed to get up to 20 degrees tomorrow with 22 mile per hour winds from the north. Shadow and I walked today while a wintry mix was falling—ice, snow, and rain all at once—and we will walk tomorrow, cold or no cold. I will bundle up and wrangle him into his sweater even though he does not seem to be affected by the cold. Just the reverse. He loves it!
I have started a new jigsaw puzzle. Because of Shadow, I have had to go down to 500-piece puzzles that can fit on my dining room table along with my computer and a space left to eat. I used to work 1500-piece puzzles that fit on my large coffee table in the living room with extra pieces in a huge metal tray that sat beside me on the sofa. But Shadow eats the puzzle pieces unless they are up high. Anyway, the new puzzle was a Christmas gift from the Goldstones and is an artichoke floral on a black background. There are spinach leaves, arugula, kiwis, apricots, cherry tomatoes, pink alstroemeria (Peruvian lilies), and of course, artichokes. I get hungry when I spend time working on this puzzle. But I promise not to eat the pieces like my little furry friend!
