Thursday, or Thereabouts - January 23, 2014

Moving right along...

Old man winter responded to Monday's "Dear John" letter by unleashing yet another blast of bitterness. Yesterday morning it was -32C (-26F) outside my door, a record low in these parts for the thirty-six years we've live here. In fact Winter scored a hat trick of superlatives yesterday - super cold, super bright and super blue sky. I am however prevented from saluting or even bowing in recognition to this achievement due the restriction of movement imposed by the multiple layers of clothing I'm wearing.



Perhaps I should also warn you that the snowblower is back from the shop and is fixed and ready for action. All of which goes to say that it is winter and it is moving right along as it should. The switch to Eastern Daylight Time - Spring Forward - arrives March 9, and eight weeks from today, at precisely 12:57pm EDT on March 20 the spring equinox will give winter the boot.
The light is returning.

My writing, beyond this blog, has languished since the end of October due to an as yet undiagnosed visual impairment, but in the past two weeks frustration and a stubborn disposition have driven me to get back on track. I can manage almost a half hour in front of the laptop screen before annoyance and fatigue set in, and if I have the patience to take the time to get the lighting just right, I can sit and read a book for almost an hour. I can personally attest to the benefits of fonts with serifs to ease reading.

So moving that right along, a friend and I have partnered up to be each other's beta readers and I have already sent a few chapters of the memoir off to her. Also, I have finally downloaded "Scrivener" , something I've been meaning to do for the better part of a year. I dutifully pushed my poor eyes through the entire tutorial - that took two days - still I was impressed and excited, sure that this was just what I needed to energise me back into the work. I set up my new project and began the document import. It took less than five minutes for me to be utterly stumped and even more utterly defeated. I heeded my beta reader friend's counsel, stepped away from the program and took a deep breath. The past two days I've dared to stick my toe back into the Scrivener pond and have actually made some progress with it. There have been enough "aha" moments, flashes of understanding, to keep me motivated. Phew!

I've not written anything new in the memoir yet, but rather I am taking the time to reacquaint myself with the story: the people, the places, the events, and along with all of that of course, the emotions. I am re-discovering the reason why this story is important and that's a good thing, a really good thing.
The light is indeed returning.
Cheers!

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©2014 April Hoeller