I had a fun and relaxing 4th of July celebrating with my family. It turns out my nephew, who I thought would be very anti-fireworks since he’s only two and doesn’t like the noise when a lawn mower is turned on, might be a little pyromaniac, as he kept demanding “more fireworks,” even after we introduced him to some of the continuously noisy fountains instead of the silent smoke bombs and one-bang parachutes. He also enjoyed the county fair a little more this year, as he was big enough to do more of the rides and better understood waiting in line, and his big sister was even tall enough to do one of the “grown-up” rides, which she loved (I, on the other hand, was a little dizzy after that one).

Now I am excitedly packing and counting down for vacation (t-minus 5 days!). I have a new book to read, a fresh notebook for brainstorming, and at least an hour long drive with my parents as a captive audience if I want to read any of my latest draft out loud (just kidding…maybe), and I am looking forward to some refreshing pool time and yummy treats.

Writing is still going slowly, but I feel good about what is going. I’ll have a couple extra days at the end of my vacation time where I’m hoping I can get into a good flow without anything else going on. I’m seeing bits of the story that weren’t quite working for me before smooth out a little bit, but it sort of feels like a Jenga tower right now, like I can’t move any of the pieces too quickly or make too big of a change without knocking the whole structure off balance. I’m just taking one section at a time, figuring out what stacks on what in the strongest way possible and sanding off the rough edges.