‘Tis the Season to… Not Do Much At All, Really

It’s an odd sort of time, January, especially in the Southern Hemisphere where you’ve got the whole summer thing lumped on top of the Christmas/New Year things. It’s like no matter what you think you’re doing, your brain doesn’t really believe you’re seriously trying to do anything until at least February – and not even then, if it’s hot.

I think it’s been good for me, this taking a couple of months off desk work to focus on other parts of life – even if my to do list hasn’t shrunk as dramatically as I was hoping it would. If nothing else, a period of rest and reflection has helped me see where I need to be stepping back and where I need to be stepping up.

However, I have done some things.
I’ve done a bit of pruning (camellia, lemon and grape).
I’ve eradicated a local mint-loving caterpillar population.
I’ve assisted with the spraying of fluffy-bums (the juveniles of the passion vine hopper – they hop on my vines and I hate them with a passion).
And I’ve stacked four cubic metres of gum wood for the winter.

I’ve spent a Sunday afternoon watching the Sense & Sensibility miniseries with a friend.
I’ve weeded a little and watered a bit, to avoid Death by Dessication for all my potted plants.
I’ve prepared and preached a sermon.
I’ve played with the idea of a drastic furniture rearrangement (worked off in graph paper and outlines of furniture).
I’ve worked on the Zipfelmuetzen Bommelschal (when not too darn hot).
I’ve applied for an ISBN for a hopefully soon-to-be-released new ebook version of Restoration Day.
I’ve waded through seemingly endless terms and conditions, as well as an email chain or two, and that’s the closest to writing work I’ve come, blog posts aside.

But “see! she stirs!
She starts,–she moves,–she seems to feel
The thrill of life along her keel,” as Longfellow put it.

I have found my thoughts of late straying to the two novels I first-drafted last year, viz. The Wound of Words and Dolly & Dot: The Mystery of the Missing Maid.

Come February, I think I’ll start in on revising The Wound of Words. I finished the first draft on the 19th of September, so it’s had time to ripen. I haven’t set myself any parameters for the rewrite yet – how long? how fast? how much? – but we’ll see what emerges in the next week or two.

And in the meantime… there’s always that to do list.

How is your January shaping?