☀️It Dawned on Me… {#16}
Updates & my word of the year; the year of the spreadsheet; my latest (in) article; currently reading & watching
Updates & My Word of the Year
My book productivity took a hit in the last quarter of the year. I allowed everything—family drama, my daughter’s wedding, holidays, jury duty—to get in my head and crowd out the story. When I’m dialed in, these characters live with me. I hear their conversations, wonder what they’ll do next, and even dream about them (I have a crush on one, but my husband won’t be jealous—he helped inspire the character 🤩).
It’s a delightfully unexpected byproduct of writing fiction.
Well, I’m back! My word of the year is FINISH (yes, in bold and all caps!) and I wrote beyond the 42K word mark yesterday (my target is 80K).
I had a hunch last month, which I calculated and confirmed. As of January 3, I’ve lived a longer life than my mother did. I’ve been more attuned to undercurrents, the deeper meanings in my moments.
It feels like I’m living bonus days. I have plenty of hopes and dreams for the future and there’ll be hard days ahead, but it’s all gravy.
The Year of the Spreadsheet
This year has become the year of the spreadsheet. On January 2, I decided I needed to track how many words I write and pages I read each day. I’m surprised it took me this long (if I take a walk and RunKeeper doesn’t track it, it didn’t happen).
The problem? Spreadsheets frighten and confuse me (remember Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer?), but my husband is a spreadsheet ninja. 🥷 With his help, I made them for writing and reading, and then I created one to calculate the score when we play Dutch Blitz, so no one has to do the math (lazy, but a time saver).
January’s results are in: I wrote 9094 words and read 1118 pages!
What Our Ancestry Can and Can’t Tell Us @ (in)courage
Before Christmas, many things I wanted to upgrade or try for the first time went on sale. It takes a strong will to resist a good sale, and I succumbed to purchasing two: upgrading from a yearly subscription to a lifetime membership on an editing software I use, and taking advantage of a special offer on two DNA testing kits. For the latter, my husband and I shipped off sealed containers of (an insane amount of) our saliva and waited.
On Christmas Eve, I received an email that my results were ready. I abandoned all holiday preparations and dove into a genealogy rabbit hole.
Join me at (in)courage to discuss what I learned and what our ancestry can and can’t tell us!
Currently Reading & Watching 📖
I’ve read a few books since my last update, starting with Mary Kay Andrews’s Bright Lights, Big Christmas for my December neighborhood book club.
Next, I read One Summer in Savannah, a debut novel by Terah Shelton Harris. (FYI: the paperback and Kindle editions are currently on sale at Amazon.) It contains a powerful story of forgiveness and I read it at just the right time.
Next was The Exchange by John Grisham, a follow-up to The Firm. Meh. 🫤
I began my 2024 reading list with Patti Callahan Henry’s The Secret Book of Flora Lea, World War II fiction about two sisters—one who disappeared and the other who’s never recovered from it—that testifies to the power of story. A lovely read.
Ron Rash’s The Caretaker jumped straight onto my favorites list. When a man is drafted into the Korean War, he asks his best friend to care for his pregnant wife in his absence. A summary from the Amazon listing says: “A tender examination of male friendship and rivalry as well as a riveting, page-turning novel of familial devotion, The Caretaker brilliantly depicts the human capacity for delusion and destruction all too often justified as acts of love.”
I had so many ideas about how this book was going to end. When I finished, I decided it was a perfect novel.
I’ve left a couple of enjoyable books unfinished: Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments by Joe Posnanski because it was overdue at the library (I read about half and scanned the rest for Braves stories) and The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl because I had a library copy, but I want my own hardback (it’s a 52-week nature/literary devotional).
In theaters, we’ve seen The Boys in the Boat, Queen Rock Montreal, Godzilla Minus One Minus Color, and The Beekeeper. Enjoyed them all!
On TV, we’re watching season four of Miss Scarlet & the Duke as new episodes are released week by week. We just finished season one of The Diplomat, a smart, fast-paced series about an American diplomat who’s the newly-assigned American ambassador to the UK.
In season two, which premiers on Netflix in April, I hope they occasionally brush Keri Russell’s hair. It’s outrageously distracting. 😂
I hope your new year’s off to a great start! Drop a comment and let me know how you found me or what you’re reading or watching!
