I'm taking a sabbatical from the human rights organization I work for to finish my third novel and get my second novel out as an e-book. But since I'm having carpal tunnel surgery in August, I decided to focus on getting the garden and house in shape before the surgery.  This of course is after months of stuffing things into our bedroom and the guest room with the rationale that I'm going to take care of it once I'm on sabbatical. A few weeks ago I started getting really depressed that the I was nowhere near being caught up with the housework and I hadn't even started on my novel when I remembered, I get really depressed when I don't write.  So now I'm committing to at least 2 pages or one hour a day, whichever comes first.

I got out my novel Shea this week and was surprised to find I only had about 40 pages done.  I had plotted way farther than that in my head. (I do that sometimes when I'm bored or have insomnia).  That's actually an energizing discovery for me. Since I know where I'm going it's just a matter of catching up, and it's always exciting to see the black and white sketches fill out, become colorized, start moving.   What I really love is when the characters take over and do things that I hadn't planned on them doing.