The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimberly, the Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week, take a look ahead, and showcase our new treasures—I mean books!
This week I’m also participating in The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz, and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.
The Past Week
In real life: My mom and stepdad stayed with us on Sunday and Monday. It was so lovely to spend Mother’s Day with my mother for the first time in decades! And Robin sent me a really moving card. On Monday, we visited the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden down in Richmond. The flowers and plants were beautiful and interesting, and the weather was just about perfect. I really enjoyed it, but the fresh air, sunshine, and pollen wiped me out; I went to bed before 10:00 pm. (I’m usually up past midnight.)
On Wednesday I had another medical test. Don’t worry — everything’s fine, and I passed with flying colors. Regular screenings are just part of the price of staying healthy as we get older.
I spent the rest of the week working on paperwork and house organization. I designed and ordered some business cards from Canva for an upcoming conference in June. Speaking of which, I’m starting to panic about what to wear to the conference. Honestly, I have no idea how to dress professionally these days… especially when it comes to shoes, since I’m not comfortable in heels anymore. And after years of working from home (even before the pandemic) as well as a size change, I don’t really have much in the way of professional clothes. I guess I need to go shopping this week.
Decluttering: We sold a desk we no longer need. We’re making some progress on decluttering the house so we can get the floors done, but there’s still a long way to go. Yesterday, we went through a section of the basement. We’re focusing on “low-hanging fruit” — not the emotionally difficult or really time-consuming boxes, but things that give us more floor space in a short amount of time. My husband took two loads of stuff to the thrift store. I found a box and a trunk of costumes from decades ago, when I was a drama teacher; I plan to reach out to the high school drama teacher and see if they want them. We photographed and scanned some things that we’re letting go of.
Writing accountability: My minimum goal is an achievable 250 words every day (fiction or other creative writing; book reviews don’t count.) I wrote 6 days this week, still working on the first draft of a long fanfic. I wasn’t able to write on Monday; we were out most of the day, and by the time evening came and I had a little free time, I was too exhausted to even think straight. I think I’m going to switch my writing time to mornings, and write at least long enough to get my daily word count in. If I can fit in another writing session later in the day, that would be a bonus, but at least I wouldn’t be staying up past midnight to get my words written. Word count for the week: 3531 words (my goal was 1,750 for the week.) I am using 4theWords to gamify my writing sprints.
Recent Posts
- Happy Mother’s Day! Sunday Post – 5/12/2024
- NaNoWriMo Inspirations, by David Farland
- The Golden Chance, by Jayne Ann Krentz
- Sunday Post – 5/19/2024 – this post
Looking Ahead
- Authors I Would Love Another Book From – Top 10 Tuesday
- reviews TBD
- Sunday Post – 5/26/2024
What I’ve Been Reading/Watching
Reading: I haven’t had a lot of time, focus, or energy to read, and I can’t seem to get into books that normally I would be excited about. Basically, I’m in a reading slump. I did read and review The Golden Chance, a 1990 release by Jayne Ann Krentz. It was light and fun, if a little dated.
I’m nearly done with Becoming Crone by Lydia M. Hawke, a contemporary fantasy (urban fantasy) about a 60-year-old chosen-one heroine. I’m still reading A Deceptive Composition, the 12th Lady Darby mystery by Anna Lee Huber, a buddy-read with Sophia Rose, who reviews at Books of My Heart and elsewhere. The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton (ARC) is one of the ones I’m having trouble concentrating on.
Listening to: The Cartographers (Peng Shepherd) is sort of hibernating at present. In podcasts, I’m working my way through season 10 of the Writing Excuses podcast, and started season 10.
Watching: I’m almost finished with Season 2 of A Discovery of Witches.
Playing: Some of the NYT word games, mostly Wordle, Connections, and the Spelling Bee. The NYT is beta-testing a new game called Strands, which I like. I also played Pokémon Go a few days.
Added to the Hoard
For Review or Consideration
Many thanks to Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for a digital edition of A Natural History of Dragons!
Purchased or Free (Kindle, print, or audio)
Kindle: Anything with Nothing; The Four-Story Mistake
Audiobooks: The Crystal Cave; The Hollow Hills; The Last Enchantment; The Wicked Day; The Prince and the Pilgrim; Slight Mourning (all on sale at Chirp)
(Click title for Goodreads page or my review.)
mae
Great to have Mother’s Day with your mother!
mae recently posted…Alice’s Murals from Myrtle Beach
Anne - Books of My Heart
A busy week. So mice to have that family time. You’re doing such a good job with decluttering.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Anne – Books of My Heart recently posted…Sunday Series: Joe Pickett by CJ Box @cjboxauthor #DavidChandler @RecordedBooks #SundaySeries #LoveAudiobooks
Nicky @ The Bibliophibian
I’ve been kinda curious about The Cartographers — is it one you’re enjoying, or is it on hold because it’s kinda meh?
It can be so satisfying to get rid of stuff, when it’s not highly emotive stuff. Good work!
Here’s my STS/Sunday Post.
Nicky @ The Bibliophibian recently posted…Review – Don’t Call Me Dirty
Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog
Glad you had a lovely Mother’s Day!
Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog recently posted…The Sunday Post Meme (228)
sjhigbee
We also rather desperately need to declutter. The house and garden went feral while I was ill with long covid over the last 3 years and I’m finding it all a bit overwhelming. I like the idea of focusing on a single room and sorting it out. How lovely that you were able to spend Mother’s Day with your own mother after such a long time apart on this special day! And the gardens look lovely. Have a great week, Lark.
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz
We are definitely passing things along to others to use. It makes life so much simpler, I think.
Thank you for sharing your writing habits here. I will share this post with some of my writing group friends. We love to see what is working for other writers.
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits
Your idea of working on the “easy” parts of the declutter first is a good one, I think. It will be easier to make decisions about the hard things when you’ve already made (some) space for the things you should keep, and have the ability to hopefully look at it all a little more objectively, too.
Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits recently posted…Wyrd & Wonder ~ Sunbolt Readalong Week #2
Katherine
Sounds like a wonderful Mother’s Day and what a beautiful Botantical Garden. I have a daily task where I have to either declutter something or put it where it belongs and it’s helped get me moving on tackling organizational tasks which I’ve really liked. It’s such a good feeling to get things orderly. I hope you’re having a great week!