I am sitting with nine-year-old Riley and we are writing a quick write. This is when we just put whatever we want down on the page to clear our minds and to build up writing muscles. Riley is having trouble coming up with something to write about. Cordelia is sitting next to him and I suggested that he write about her, describe her, and go from there.
What do I want to write about? Today, I have a busy day. I have Riley for 1 hour at 11, then Jack at 1:30 for 2 hours, a visit at 4 from my student Lona who is leaving from Brown on August 20th, and then another 2-hour session at 6 with my student Steven. I also have my daily submissions to read and comment on from my students in my Story Circle Network online class entitled: A Writing Experiment: 20 Minutes a Day for One Month. This ten-minute quick write might evolve into my blog for this evening since I won’t have a lot of time by then to write a lot more. I will be tired.
Tired is a feeling I’ve had a lot this spring and summer. We have done a lot of physical work both at the orange grove, in Texas and here at our home. I am proud to say we are more organized than we’ve been in many years as a result of all that hard work. This feels very good. I am also happy that I have physically used my body over these past few months. I am stronger and feel better altogether. However, by the end of every day, I feel pretty darn tired. Ironically, I often feel more tired after doing the mental work related to writing and working with students than I do from lifting and moving boxes or clearing out a storage shed. I suppose the mental work can be more taxing than the clear-cut work of physical activity. It seems odd, but brainwork can really tire me out!
Riley is working away across from me. He’s had a few false starts so I have reset the timer a couple of times to give him more opportunity to get words on the page. This ten-minute quick write may, in fact, be my blog for tonight since it looks like it will be extending to twenty minutes before it’s over.
It is due to be very hot here in LA today. Ninety-nine is the projected high temperature. I hope it doesn’t get that hot. Still, we have our bedroom air conditioners on and two fans running where I am sitting, plus open windows. Unfortunately, the common rooms in our house do not have air conditioning since we need it so rarely. Today may end up being one of the days that we actually do need it.
Okay, I am going to wrap up. We are close to 20 minutes and Riley will poop out pretty soon. I need to be ready to turn my attention to him for the remainder of our hour together.
I hope your day is going well and it’s not too hot where you live.
I’ll be checking back in tomorrow.
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