Back in the saddle again...

My new schedule is a dream.

I'm working at home now and teaching just two days a week.

Get up, make coffee, fix breakfast and brown-bag lunches, kiss the family good-bye and then skip upstairs to my new digs.

Yeah, all is good.

Except that I can only stare at the computer screen for two hours at a time or

(I swear this is true) my eyes start to cross.

It's been an adjustment.

The house is really quiet.

I turned on Good Morning America just so I won't feel so alone.

Heck, I'm used to a flurry of kids for six hours each day.

But I persist.

I create new art lessons.

I work on revisions.

I watch Photoshop tutorials because Isabelle showed me some really cool graphic applications and I want to join in on the fun.

I think about things.

Like how funny it is that an editor requested a full after

a NINE MONTH query letter.

Sheesh.

But then I get excited about my book again and start looking at it with fresh

"are-you-really-ready-yet eyes."

Then I get out my pens and start drawing a scene (even though it's a picture-less novel) because art is really my muse lately.

Then the kids start slamming doors and calling out for food, and even though they can fix their own snacks, I do it anyways because it gives me a chance to talk to them.

I'm not as scrambled as I may sound.

I'm really happy.

I'm living the life I was meant to live.

Creative.

Artful.

Peaceful.