My typical morning consists of tickling my kiddo awake and
getting him ready for school, after which I usually enjoy a cup of coffee and a
few hours in my office. Once my minion returns home, I spend the rest of the
day hanging out with my family, maybe a little light housework and reading to
round out the evening. It’s a pretty laid back life around here, for the most
part.
Yesterday was not a typical day. By some strange magic, I
managed to line up a slew of activities in an itinerary that required copious
amounts of coffee. It started with waking up at 5:30am. I’m so not a morning person. In fact, although
I help get our kiddo ready for school, my husband does the actual drop-off and
pick-up routine. I head to my home office in my PJs 99% of the time. No joke.
After drinking 2 cups of coffee and prying my eyes open, I
drove an hour and a half to Sedalia, where I first stopped at my mechanic’s
shop to have a weird dash warning message investigated. My car is nearing 100k miles
from all the convention road-tripping, and it has started to complain over the
past few months. After the faulty part was diagnosed, I headed over to
Boonslick Library around 8:30am, where the Sedalia Area Literacy Council has
their monthly meetings.
The SALC is an awesome organization that I’m proud to
be a member of. Even after relocating to Lake of the Ozarks, I still
participate in the monthly meetings and help put together the annual tea and auction
we do every April. The event is tons of fun, and it raises money for literacy
programs in the Sedalia area. You can check out more about us and see pictures
from past tea auctions on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/SedaliaAreaLiteracyCouncil
So after the meeting, I dropped off a few boxes of donations
at Open Door, just down the street from the library, and then I grabbed another
cup of coffee and drove an hour and a half to Kansas City to have lunch with a
friend I hadn’t seen in forever.We had burgers and apple pie in a little café
and talked about the strange wonderfulness of life. I don’t mingle comfortably
with a ton of people. I *think* I pass for relatively normal most of the time,
but it often feels like I’m holding my breath as I over-analyze everything I do
and say. Being normal is haaard. It’s
nice to have a few friends I don’t have to use my filter around, and I always
part with them feeling rejuvenated.
After lunch, it was an hour and a half back to Sedalia,
where I stopped by Reader’s World to drop off a few signed copies of Death Wish, the new Lana book that came
out earlier this month. Woot! Then I headed back to Boonslick Library, where
the teens who participated in the writing workshop I did last July were having
a signing for the collection of their short stories I edited.
It was so great to see how many friends and family showed up
to support these amazing teens. Thanks to everyone who stopped by! If you
missed the signing, you can still grab a copy at the front desk for $5, and it
all goes to the library for future programs. The library’s reading programs are
so awesome, and I’m really excited to return next summer and organize another teen
writing workshop! Here is an article from the Sedalia Democrat about the
signing and Teen Read Week: http://sedaliademocrat.com/news/5166/teen-authors-help-celebrate-teen-read-week
After leaving the library around 5:30pm, I grabbed another coffee, drove by our old house, and headed home to the lake. The hour and
a half road trip (the fourth of the day) seemed to take a million years… okay,
more like 2 hours. The earlier sunsets and restless deer make for a slow,
white-knuckled drive. But I made it home around 7:30pm, kissed my husband and
kiddo, and changed back into my PJs—all in time to watch Marvel’s Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D. ♥
I’m back to
business as usual today, sitting at my desk in my PJs. I’m glad to have this
chance to catch my breath, because tomorrow launches a 5-day sprint of
non-typical activity. We’re heading to Denver for MileHiCon!!! If you’re
attending, come see me on Authors Row! Otherwise, I'll catch up with you next week... in my PJs.
xoxo
