As the summer winds down...

As the summer winds down on the calendar, life seems to be speeding up in other realms. The large maple by the brook is showing signs of color in its leaves and the evenings have been cool enough to warrant that extra throw blanket on the bed; fall is coming. And with that, the knowledge that there are many things in the garden to tend to such as digging the potatoes, harvesting the basil for pesto, freezing the beans, broccoli,  kale, and swiss chard for winter soups; the wood split in earnest back in June now needs to be stacked before the autumn rains really begin which means all those odds and ends stored in the wood shed over the past few months need a new home....the physical work is necessary though to counterbalance this life on the computer, a life that seems to grow larger on a daily basis as work steadily increases for this freelancer.
That is not a complaint, just a comment as I shuffle between keyboard, garden, and wood shed. An added fly in the mix right now is the sad but necessary fact that my husband is away for two weeks, attending a memorial service for a family member. He is at times bored, I am at times overwhelmed. I long to send him my editing or book reviewing work, he longs to be home stacking wood. We will both be okay.
The uncorrected proof of The Cracker Book arrived in the mail the other day. Chores were instantly ignored so I could hold the real product in my hands, a close facsimile to the image I have carried in my head ever since my publisher said 'yes' back in January. I am excited and anxious as the countdown to the actual publication date slowly but steadily advances upon me. I am still amazed that this idea is now a tangible item in the world.
Meanwhile, my first attempt at a novel is getting mixed reviews from beta readers. Some people are unable to put the piece down, others tell me to throw away the first one hundred pages and start the book from there. I am up one minute and down the next and need to pull back and listen to my instincts on how to proceed. I am eager to work on the next project but know this novel still deserves its time and space, so I force myself to be patient and continue to edit and revise and read yet another book on the art of writing a novel.
Meanwhile there are books to read and review, manuscripts to edit, papers to translate, and a steady stream of emails that arrive that need tending. I feel like the Internet has morphed into the sorcerer's apprentice; once my email address got on to certain lists, the steady stream of notices and blogs keeps advancing despite the numerous deletions I make on a daily basis of things unread. And so, life keeps moving forward even as the days grow darker a little bit earlier and the evenings cool off enough to make me start a new list of things to do with 'clean wood stoves' prominently on the top.