Today was very good. I mean, I didn’t get any chores done, but I had coffee with a friend, and then drove home in the slanting light of an afternoon in November. Then I had curry and rice for dinner, and was well disposed to work out the issues where Jack doesn’t know how to use a knife and fork properly, and while Oliver might cringe, he won’t allow anyone else to mock Jack’s table manners. Which took the scene in quite a different direction than what I’d planned.
Or, if I’m going to be honest with myself and my readers (which I should do), the scene went quite a different direction than my non-existent plan. For recently, I’d shifted the timeline of Oliver and Jack, and determined that the plot should move apace, rather than wandering like an English brook. So I had to up the ante, but with my (lack of) planning for this particular conversation between them about manners, well, Jack decided what was what, and Oliver was quite moved. So go me for trusting the process.
Here’s the current count:
Day One – 1,998
Day Two – 2,122
Day Three – 1,820
Day Four – 1,820
Day Five – 1,930
Day Six – 1,601
Day Seven – 1,729
Day Eight – 2,363
The following is one of my favorite current favorites, which I found on Tumblr when scrolling for something else entirely. There’s so much power in the lyrics and passion in the dancing, that whenever I need a little pick-me-up, I reach for this vid. It’s called Chandelier by Sia. The young dancer is the amazing and talented Maddie Ziegler. When she performed in this video, she was only 12 years old. (And I know Wiki says that the song is about “the demoralization and rationalization of alcoholism through the typical thought process of a party girl,” but that’s not how I read the song. Instead, I think of it as a pean to living your life fully, right now, this minute. And swinging “from the chandelier, like tomorrow doesn’t exist.”)