Slowly, very very slowly, I’m getting reacquainted with the manuscript for Glory Days. I decided to do a fashion sketch to get myself back into thinking about what Aimée would have worn in 1898. It helped a little bit, and I’m hoping to make more progress tomorrow.
It’s been a weird day. The stars and doing weird stuff – as if that’s what we all needed right now. Mars in Retrograde got me revisiting some old angers and dwelling on them a bit. Not good, especially mixed with the lingering sadness over my grandmother and the general uncertainty of things right now.
I did what I could to make this day better: good coffee and decadent chocolate cake, a mild incursion into editing, a healthy lunch, a long nap, an egg fried in butter, a long shower, drawing, walking the dog, a long talk with a friend, a good book, doing the dishes (that last one often does wonders). Everything helped yet nothing truly did. In the end, a little bit of much needed joy, a reminder of things that are fun, good, and positive, was waiting in my mailbox. Bright and cheerful, in double-layered cotton, the masks for my second batch of Christmas boxes had arrived from Society6. They were an instant source of joy, and a great reminder that this is what I hope the Christmas Boxes will do for the people receiving them. They’re supposed to bring some happiness and color, and if this trick works for me on what turned out to be a challenging day, then hopefully it will work too for each and every person opening these surprise boxes!