The sky outside has been grey, grey, grey, and for once it was a relief when it faded into black at about 5pm. I've been really tired today, and it was hard to rev myself up under such cloudy skies. At least now that it's dark, I can pull the curtains closed, turn on all the lights, and cocoon myself in our warm house with Nika snuggling up against me and a CD playing over the stereo, as we wait for Patrick to come home from work.

This is a teaching week--I'm covering three classes at the department this week--so I'm sorely missing my energy resources. Luckily, all I have to do is sit back and grade other people's presentations.

The good news is that I've done a good swathe of rewrites on the first third of Masks & Shadows. (For those of you who are wonderful volunteers, reading it for me right now--this doesn't mean that I'm skipping ahead of the crits! I'm just taking care of mistakes that I can see for myself now, or that have been pointed out to me already. I'm still hoping for suggestions of all sorts.) I'm really missing Music of the Stars right now--it's so much easier and more comfortable to do fresh, first-draft writing than to revise finished drafts!--but I just don't have time to do new writing and rewriting, so practicality, for once, has won the battle. But I will get back to the new novel as soon as I can... I'm also turning over lots of ideas for the two adult historical novels that will be taking their turns in the next few years. Simmer, simmer, simmer...every time I see a cool, new-to-me historical tidbit, I toss it into the pot to join the rest of the ingredients.

Oof, I'm tired. Good thing it's the evening. After dinner, Patrick and I are planning to cook an apple-blackberry crumble for comfort, and then collapse onto the couch. I can't wait.