First, had a wonderful meeting of LARA. Gayle Lynds was our speaker, and she was just fabulous! Her husband is Michael Collins, the writer. She writes international spy thrillers that have hit the best seller lists.

Amongst all her excellent advice, she said one thing that struck a chord with me. She was aiming it at women, but the same is true for men, too. She said that "daily life steals from your ability to create." We are so busy thinking about groceries, laundry, pets, children, spouses, work that needs to be done around the house, work/work, that we have left no time for ourselves to create. She recommends "Silences" by Tilly Olsen. Something to add to my list.

But what was funny was, as I moved in and out of sleep early this morning, I began thinking - creating - another story. When I did finally stumble awake, I wrote it down. It's not a romance, and I probably won't write it, but it was interesting that those chunks of semi-conscious time this morning was when I was 'creative'.
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It was a beautiful day yesterday. DH made a bubble solution, and bubble wands, and the four of us played with bubbles for over an hour. It got chilly as it got dark, so I built a fire in our outdoor fire pit and we sat around and talked. Another wonderful hour spent together. I love my family. I am so very lucky.
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I'm finally finished with "A Charmed Circle", the biography of sorts of Gertrude Stein and her salons in Paris in the first part of the 20th Century. I don't really know what I think of her, except she was exceedingly determined and wrote every day. I have decided I will read "Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas", which was her first breakout hit in both Paris and America. Now all I have to do is find it!

So I have fallen back on "84, Charing Cross Road" by Helene Hanff, the story of a relationship carried on by letters between Helene and Frank Doel, a worker at the Bookshop in England where she bought most of her books. I'm lucky in that I have all three of the books, and that should last me through November at least - they are small volumes, though very prized. My dear friend Barbara gave them to me for Christmas last year, and I utterly devoured them at the time.

But I need to start looking for something similar to "Charmed Circle" for my bedtime reading. "Italian Journeys" by Goethe was an eye-opener, as was the Stein; I guess I should look in the biography section of people who lead interesting, but remote, lives.

Ah well. Time to get to work.