Remember Flat Stanley? He was flattened by a falling bulletin board. Flat susan has been flattened by stacks of books, mail, email, laundry, tour stuff, and more. Flatter than a pancake. Flatter than a piece of paper. Really, really flat. I started getting flattened the minute I got home on Sunday night. I hadn't eaten, so I cooked myself an omelette and wound up cooking one for Bill, with mushrooms and cheese and onions and pepperoni. I'd been home 15 minutes, hadn't even unpacked the car, and already I'm back at work.
I complained about this to my friend Paula, who said "Welcome to the real world." She said it sweetly, with only a hint of irony, but of course she was right. I had everything my way for the month I was in New Mexico--oh, such luxury--but now I'm back to sweeping dog fur off the floor and folding clean underwear and making mushroom omelettes with pepperoni.
That's not to say I didn't work when I was out there. I wrote every day, from eight to five, and read every evening. That's definitely work. I took care of the dogs and swept that floor (with only two dogs, and it being really winter out there, they held onto their fur, mostly) and washed the occasional half-load of laundry. I also cooked for myself, and occasionally for our neighbor. That's work, too, leavened with a little fun. And of course I shoveled snow. But I didn't go to town and horse around, and I didn't socialize or watch TV (we don't have TV out there.) Mostly I wrote, lots and lots. I came home with more than three-quarters of the book done (this is Landscapes of Solitude, which is a memoir of place), although I have no idea how much of it is good stuff and how much I will end up tossing. It seemed like good stuff at the time. I hope it will still seem like good stuff when I can get around to opening that file and rereading it.
Which won't be soon. Tomorrow, I'd doing a Beatrix Potter gig in Austin. If you're around, come on by. I'm working on the tour--Peggy and I should be able to post a schedule next week. I'm working on podcasts with Becca and the new weekly herbal eletter with Peggy. And I've got to finish Nightshade. Bill read it while I was gone and suggested some tweaks but said he thought it was mostly okay, so maybe that won't take too long. Once that's done, I'll be able to get back to Landscapes and see whether any of the stuff I wrote is good stuff.
But anyway, I'm home, making omelettes and sweeping and occasionally thinking wistfully about writing. There'll maybe be a few pictures once I can find my camera. Unless it's flattened too.