Writing, Swimming and the Cold

Once again I've succumbed to the writing lure and subscribed to an on-line writing course. I've done this periodically through the years and have always learned something that honed my craft a bit more, but I also know that time will be tight over the next 18 months. I miss writing, though. As I was cleaning I came across one of my LOTR stories from a few years ago and after re-reading it, I discovered that I still enjoyed the tale. That's not the case with everything I've written over the years, but some of my work is holding up to time. Practice and consistency helps with any art, though, and that includes writing. 

The nice thing about LOTR Fan-Fiction is that the
community is fairly active. There are always challenges
pending and activities I can dive into to help practice and
fine tune my writing skills. 

Just because I don't have the time to continue working on my novel, and just because I can't dive back into the LOTR fan-fiction universe again just yet, doesn't mean I can't hone my writing skills again, so I'll do my best to allocate two 30-minute periods each week to "Descriptive Writing" and "Irresistible Fiction". If nothing else, it will be fun to think about something other than cleaning, organizing, and shifting items from one place to another. 

My life is winding down and I want to spend a decade or
two doing creative things - making my stories in print and
in art. I can't do that if I'm working a 60-hour week at the shop. 

DH will keep me on track with the packing and moving of stuff. He's got his focus and his internal timetable, and he's keeping us on schedule. We want to retire - I want out. The only way to do that is to actually bring home the things that need to be home and then sell the rest. So much easier said than done for a business that's been ongoing for more than 30 years. 

It was wonderful to finally be back in the pool yesterday. I wasn't
too far off my pace, either, ending my mile within two
minutes of my best time before my three week hiatus. 

On another plane, it was pure joy to be back in the water and swimming yesterday. Although I'm going to make sure to build in at least two days of machines this week, I'm going back to the pool for today and tomorrow. I think I'll allocate Thursday and Friday to machines, and Monday-Wednesday plus Saturday for the pool. I hate to miss my Saturdays, they're usually the least crowded day and I often get a lane of my own for my mile. 

Too many people are one paycheck away from being homeless, and
in temperatures like we'll have over the next few days, some of those
unfortunate people will die because the shelters will be full and will
have to turn people away. 

I'm ready to bundle up and face the cold. We're at the beginning of three-four days of intensive sub-zero temps. Today it's currently a balmy -4 F ... NO, it's now -6 F. By the time I go to sleep tonight, it'll be -16 F and still dropping. This is killing cold and we'll lose some of the homeless who refuse to leave their cubbyholes or have no place with space available. My heart goes out to anyone without shelter during temps like this! 

Have a safe and warm Tuesday, I'll be back tomorrow.