Well, school started!

Here’s a rundown of how we’re taking over the local elementary school this year.

This is the first time since our oldest started school five years ago that Ben and I have only had one child at home. And that one child is pretty delightful (as they all are). But seriously. He’s the easiest kid I’ve ever known. Or maybe I’m just practiced by this point.

With all my extra time (hahahahahahahaha) I’m reading extremely comprehensive bestiaries,

building cars and planes with the littlest,

and collecting the wildflowers my boys fling at me when they get home from school (because they missed me so much).

School has introduced a new dynamic into our reality, but it’s also heralded a return to our structure and routine that I need so much to thrive. So I’m in my element now, though I’m so deep in fascinating research I don’t know if I’ll ever climb out. One of these days I’ll get around to the story. But for now, I’m enjoying reading, conducting interviews, and gathering it all into a force of its own.

In other news, my book in the traditional publishing world is in exactly the same place it was when I wrote you last month: copyediting. Have I mentioned how long everything in traditional publishing takes? Sometime in the next few months, I should get a laid-out copy of it, which I’ll be able to read again (I’ve read this story about 15 times already) as the last eyes before it goes to print.

Fall, in my world, looks, smells, and feels like hope. May it look, smell and feel like hope in your world, too.