Alright, this fall is flying by, and I feel like days are slipping through my fingers. I wanted to have that second novel written by the end of the semester, but it's starting to look sketchy, so I am going to commit here to a date. Writing will commence Nov 15th, whether or not I'm happy with my editing of Silk, whether or not I'm happy with a laptop...I could spend the next forty years putting my ducks in a row, researching, trying to get 'ready' for the new book and editing the older one. Nope, I'm going to start then, regardless of Thanksgiving. I may tack on an extra 3 days to my writing month to make up for Thanksgiving, so I don't kill my family over the holidays!
Why not today? Why wait? Well, the kids have a lot of days off in the next couple of weeks, and, when they're in school, I'm going to visit some high schools. We went to the open house and got quite enthused about a couple of schools, but Michael wisely suggested that we withhold any decisions until we see the schools in action. I'll go and have tours at three of the schools to get a sense of whether they're places I'm comfortable sending my kids.
Fiona's already settled on Savannah Arts Academy, which I'm thrilled about. She was at the open house yesterday (just accompanying us), and she had her hair in colorful, funky ponytails and braids for 'crazy hair day'. I don't think the SAA counselor realized the special hair day, but she looked at Fiona like she completely belonged at their school and assured her, "We'll be looking forward to having you at SAA!" Fiona will need to pick a major, but she's got years to do that and a host of talents.
I'm going to go ahead and visit SAA during the normal school day with Alex's top two picks--as, if the vibe really is far better there, I'll push him in that direction. Actually, he agreed with that completely, even though he's more interested in the Engineering Program at Jenkins or the International Baccalaureate program at Windsor Forest than in Arts. He's fascinated, at the moment, with filmmaking, though, so the theatre division is attractive to him (and there's a two-year filmmaking course to be offered at Windsor Forest as well). Also, he's got that piano thing going on, so he'll have a specific talent to get into SAA, if we opt that route for him.
Yes, I realize how dull this is for you, but committing to my novel dates here really seems to make a difference. I can easily ask myself for personal commitment reprieves, but when I've publicly stated something, I tend to stick with it a little better. The school chat? Just something to put up with, as you know how obsessive I am (I was the same about picking Ellis--visited a host of schools, from the time he was two!)--and I've never regretted it.
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