Day 2

Left off last night at 1801 words, and well into the first chapter. The granddaughter may be cut altogether at one point, but the rule book says to never delete doubtful drivel - every word counts towards the end goal of 50,000 words. I did find it rather worrisome that I kept thinking how lucky Marten was to be downstairs sprawled out on the couch watching T.V. without a bone in his body yearning to write a book. No time to ponder this, however - onwards ho. Managed to squeeze an hour of writing this afternoon, which brought the tally up to 2532 words. Must have a minimum of 3,334 before I sleep tonight (according to the worst-case-scenario of 50,000 words divided by 30 days), and will try to get in another 1000 words tomorrow morning between dropping off the kids and sliding into the office in time for the weekly meeting.

At the homefront, things are mildly challenging - I cannot tell a lie. Marten is endearingly supportive of my insane endeavor, but the poor thing has a stomach flu or food poisoning and has been wandering around a bit dazed and very weak since Monday morning. Sonia was more contrary than ever today - my goodness what a strong will for such a small person. She whined and screeched and moaned her way through town today while we ran errands, pulling off her boots and socks and throwing them overboard and pulling on the pants-legs of passers-by to look at them beseechingly - I want out of this buggy, I want to walk... I just want to walk... Our longest stop was the library, and the librarian was rather more short with me than usual as I paid yet another overdue fee, and I can't imagine why... sheesh. It took me until this evening just before dinner to remember that with Maddy the antidote to terrible two behavior was Big Girl Challenging Activities. I asked Sonia to set the table and to fill a cup with water from the bathroom faucet, and she cheered up considerably. Must remember this in days to come. Our Maddy got a lot of teasing today at school about a boy she has liked since the first day of school, so she was a bit moody and more talkative than usual. I am glad I am not 6, is all I can say. Ouch.

Back to Helgoland I go. Until tomorrow, good night!

"Ride on! Rough-shod if need be, smooth-shod if that will do, but ride on! Ride on over all obstacles, and win the race!"
Charles Dickens