I spent the entire last week…off of work and hanging out with my youngest daughter. It was her Spring Break, and since she’s at a different school than her two older sisters, I took the opportunity to spend some quality time with just her. We hiked and planted flowers and ran some long-needed errands. She got to enjoy the full attention of our two dogs (they slept with her every night), and we watched some movies and “nerded out” together with computer and video games.
I actually made quite a bit of progress on my revisions to BAD LAND, since I was able to get a couple of hours of work knocked out each day before she woke up.
The reality though, was last week was as much for me as it as for her, and it had nothing to do with writing or taking a break from my “day job” or anything like that. It was all about getting to be a full-time dad, feeling closer to one of my girls, and enjoying the time experiencing just how wonderful and goofy and smart she is. All of my girls are amazing, and the chance to spend one-on-one time with them comes far too infrequently, but I love it when it happens.
So I had a pretty good week. I didn’t think about my day job, didn’t think about all of the things I need to be doing or should be doing, and didn’t worry about plot points and story beats and characterization.
I just did the one thing that’s the most important of all…
Excellent.