Take a Down Day

I’ve been going hard. On a personal level over this last year, I’ve left one job, started another, encountered a real life ‘we have altered the deal…’ and then started a new job. I’ve dragged my family bag and baggage a thousand miles to form a new life in a very large city, completely out of the ken of any of us, I’ve been separated from my husband for eight months in the process, reunited…

In the last two weeks my grandmother has died, the ‘new job’ let me know they would be forced to close their doors in a matter of weeks (barring a miracle), and I had a personal anniversary of a loss. I’m about ready to cry uncle, and still, they put the boots in. I’m job hunting, which is always difficult for me as I can’t usually manage to make it not personal with every rejection, even though the logical brain knows it’s not.

So? I’m going to take this weekend off. My Little Man is off visiting family, and he’s together with his three sisters having a wonderful time. The First Reader and I have no plans whatsoever as the writing dinner had to be canceled on account of the Coof. Frankly… I need this. I need to keep up with the job hunt, don’t get me wrong. I’m working on the resume and curriculum vitae, and I’ll be putting in an application after I touch base with a friend for a very interesting position. I’m also going to see if writing happens. It may. During my livestream last night, I had something of an epiphany: as I’m a pantser, I don’t do well without a significant chunk of time to write in.

I’ll also do art, because art is my sane place. The last six years of making art every day (with rare exceptions) has taught me that the art and writing come from different parts of the brain. Ok, maybe it’s different parts of the soul, although it would be interesting to see if there are studies on what lit up where in the architecture of the nerve center for writers versus draw-ers. Whichever it is, I can make art even when I simply cannot write. Which has led to things like this…

If you want to laugh, relax, and amuse yourself on a down day, get yourself a copy of this definitely-not-for-children coloring book. We encourage you to color outside of the lines. We also hope that you’ll find Lawdog’s pithy reports on the war between his adorable chiweenies, and the neighborhood infiltrators to be side-splittingly funny.

It’s cheap. Get two. Give one to someone you know who needs to unwind.