My mantra for this Round is “ars longa, vita brevis” (loose translation: Art takes time and life is short). From time to time, I may hold forth on this subject, as the muse moves me.
Today was one of the whirlwind trips to New York City to see one of my growing numbers of doctors, my surgeon who performed my shoulder replacement in Fall 2013. Seeing him reminds me of the quality of life (or lack thereof) that I had before the surgery, and of the fragility of life, especially due to the pulmonary embolism that put me in the ICU following the surgery.
Today also offered me much in the way of fodder for fiction, from the expensively dressed, all-too-self-aware young woman dishing very personal information over the phone in the middle of the Pain Quotidien at Park and 34th (yikes), to the twenty-something behind me on the return train, trying to sound very, very important over the phone, all the while kicking the back of my seat like a four-year-old.
Major Goal: Learn the Craft
I was not in the mood today to do any workshops or craft lessons, but I put in my earphones, turned on the Braveheart soundtrack, and worked through not one, but two worksheets from a DIYMFA course. All in all, I spent about an hour and a half. Yay, me!
Protect Time
Schedule one hour every day to learn the craft. Go through the exercises. Life happens, but I must make time at least 4 out of 7 days. Yes, for today, definitely.
Write
Whatever I have to in order to learn how to write what I want to express. No fiction today, and therefore no WIPpet Wednesday, but next week looks promising.
Connect
With RoWers twice a week, both my assigned folks and others as possible. On track.
Rejoin WIPpet Wednesday, even if only with things written as exercises. I need the accountability and the critique. Nope, not yet.
Take care of myself
Go to the doctors, do all the tests, and endeavor to do what I’m told as follow-up. Yes, done and planned.
Avail myself of the hospice aftercare services. Not yet, although I am calling them tomorrow.
Please go visit around the other ROWers, whom you can find here. Encourage as you can, share strategies, make friends. It is a wonderful community.If you are unfamiliar with a Round of Words, or ROW80, click here to read more about it from the creator of the challenge, Kait Nolan. It is a writing challenge that “knows you have a life.” Its flexibility is often helpful.
Leavekeeping 