Today, I got a late start after a somewhat later night, but I struggled through a single lesson on Greek tragedies that for some reason I kept abandoning to other tasks and took some more notes on schools for the neighborhood guides projects. But I am now calling it a day and am going to lie down and do more of my excessive Bridgerton rewatching. I keep eyeing the lengthening days and this time of year, as we stretch toward the solstice in a mere ten days, I am already a little sad about their impending decline as the summer wanes. Especially since it feels like it's almost over before it's actually even begun. But truly, the nights I can actually have my windows open and still be able to burrow under covers, however chilly I get, are the happiest nights.
The good news of the week is an impending possibility for a new freelance job for a home site that seems really exciting about what I may get to write about judging from their content. This will set me solid and less to the bone financially for the next few months as my rent increases a bit in September and I eye the mostly definite move in a year or so as they renovate all the units in my building (I have a while, there are more than 100 of them) While I will miss my apartment, I am kind of excited about fancy new upgrades, though I will most certainly pay for it, having been paying under market value the last decade or so. Also, I will have a door I can close to keep cats off my computer while I am trying to get things done (as my dining room is a bedroom already in most units per renos more than a decade ago). Something becoming increasingly necessary since Daisy quite regularly both attacks the screen and insists on laying cradled like a baby while I am trying to write. Also, I'll be getting a more open kitchen plan and another closet to store art stuff in, and more wall space in my studio area.
I keep thinking I feel isolated and strange about not going out very much, but as the covid waves still crest every once in a while, it's probably for the best. I see so many people, even the careful ones, getting sick now, and while it wouldn't be the near-death adventure it may have once been, I really don't feel like getting sick in the summer. (also there is no such thing as paid sick leave when you work for yourself.) I don't want to have to sacrifice productivity to days feeling like shit. There are still adventures to be had. I felt pretty safe when we went to a couple movies in the last few months since they were late showings with no crowds. Also, outdoor dining is something I need more of in my life while the weather supports it.
Things are progressing well with the new poem project, what I am calling the "smutty Persephone poems" in my head, but also whose real title I am almost settled on. I am uncertain and vacillating back and forth between the first and second person (that latter one just likes to slip itself in where it doesn't need to be, but I will see which I want to use as I go.) So far there are around 10 pieces, and I intend it to be book-length, so there is a long way to go, but I am pretty happy with it so far. I am about to get started on a new series of video poems for some of the writing I did during NAPOWRIMO, so that is the next non-book endeavor. They'll probably be longer videos for youtube and not just reels, though I will be making some more of those. A couple did really well. I'm not sure if they will eventually translate into book sales, but here is hoping. (I didn't notice an uptick, but sales usually slow after month when something is released anyway.)
Tomorrow, I'm breaking my no-work-weekends rule since I totally slacked today and have a fun lesson on Macbeth sitting in my queue and want to finish at least the research for the neighborhood guide. It will make next week kinder and less unruly on the writing writing-focused days if I am not playing catchup. In the meantime, I am excited about my grocery order, in which I am getting appropriately summery dinner options including brats, sweet corn, and a whole boatload of peaches, raspberries and blackberries which will hopefully be as delicious as they look.
