Sleeping dogs

We got back home on the 25th and things quickly returned to normal in our household, as this photo of me pretending to sleep while Chiquita and Lizzy made themselves comfortable for the same purpose, attests.

The idea of spending those weeks in Puerto Rico was one of the best I've had in a long, long time. I've found it hard to return to those levels of productivity now that I'm back home because there's always something else that can and should get done in competition with writing or thinking or reading. But I'm giving myself a few days to account for the re-entry and then I'll be full steam ahead drafting the last full chapter of the book, which needs to be created from scratch.

The good thing is that the invited talk I gave at OSU on Friday, which went wonderfully and was so well attended by students that I thought they had been "coerced" to be there (the professors said that was not the case), served for me to start drafting ideas for the final chapter on Delany's Blake, or the Huts of America. The faculty respondent's response to my paper and the students' questions all worked wonders to help me figure out clearly what the chapter needs to do. The plan is to follow that yellow-brick road to completion by the end of the month. Then it's on to the chapter on Alcott, which is about half done, and to complete an intro and a conclusion by May, when I travel again to Harvard to the Alcott exhibit at the Houghton. I'll then have a few people read the manuscript before I submit it to the press editor before the August deadline.

It's exciting to feel that the manuscript is coming together well and that I have been able to accomplish my goals during this year-long leave, while also having important down time from the crazy busy semesters at school. My purpose, when I return to the classroom in the fall, is to finally figure out how not to go crazy and I intend to carry that through. I want to prove to myself that I can do this so wish me luck!

Meanwhile, being back in Bexley has meant reconnecting with friends who live in Columbus and having the ability to get together with them regularly, something that didn't happen much when we lived near my small college on the hill. There I felt often isolated and sometimes even lonely, which is not usual for me since I very much appreciate the gift of solitude. But many of my friends at school have obligations that understandably make it hard to get together regularly or for a leisurely coffee date now and then. I'm enjoying this new ability to do that since I've come to realize how important those moments to connect are for me.

Now, if only winter would end early and spring begin in earnest, everything would be more than alright.