What's Up Friday

This summer I’m not having much time to blog. So here’s another quick round of What’s Up Friday.

What I’m Doing

I finished my resume, and I’ve begun applying for jobs. (If you need a technical writer or a subject indexer, let me know.)

We’re in the midst of a stay-cation, mostly doing small things and resting. Yesterday morning, my husband and I canoed on the Tennessee River. In the evening, we drove to Knoxville and saw a Shakespeare on the Square’s production of Titus Andronicus. Very dark, reminiscent of a Greek tragedy. My summary—what would happen if you took a bunch of evil people and let them do whatever they wanted.

My husband rowing.

A photo of me at an island where we stopped for lunch. We were under a mulberry tree ripe with berries. I wanted to eat them. But Cal (probably remembering the scene from The Hunger Games) said I couldn't be 100% sure they were mulberries and he preferred not visiting ER. Turns out they weren't mulberries, but I'm pretty sure they were still edible.

             

 What I’m Reading

The Expats by Chris Pavone. After reading his book The Accident for Blogging for Books, I had to read his first book. It’s excellent, fast-paced treadmill reading. I’m also currently reading A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. It’s beautiful novel set in Chechnya.

What I’m Writing

I’m nearly finished with a big edit of my upmarket women’s fiction. Five chapters left. The chapters are slow going because they are very underwritten—I grossly underwrite first drafts. For example, the first draft of this novel was only 46k words. I’ll probably hit 73k to 75k before this edit is done. And I’ll still be adding words in the next edit, fleshing out the scenes. 

Coxswain

Ever since Luke and Ariel thought about going to the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Ariel has talked about joining the UTC rowing team. (Luke, Ariel, and Jacob took rowing at Yale University one summer, and they loved it.)

Tonight was the club night at UTC orientation. Ariel eagerly went up to the rowing club booth.

Rowing Club Dude: Oh, hello.

Ariel: Hi.

RCD: So, you like rowing?

Ariel: Yes, I learned to row at Yale a few summers ago.

RCD (sizing Ariel up): So…you were the coxswain? (For those of you who don't know, a coxswain is the tiny girl who sits in the shell and yells "Stroke!")

Ariel: No. I rowed.

RCD (looking at Ariel again): Really?!

Ariel: Yes.

RCD: We could really use a coxswain—they have to be under 110 lbs., and you’d be perfect.

Now the humor in this is that ever since Ariel has talked about UTC rowing, I’ve told her, “Ariel, if you show up to the crew club, the first thing they will say is, “Oh, are you a coxswain?”

As a parent, it’s always nice to be proven right!

I think Ariel is mulling the idea of being a coxswain. She has perfect rhythm and loves being out on the shells. And besides, how often does a petite woman get to yell at anywhere from four to eight brawny men and have them obey the very words that roll off her tongue?! Sounds like fun to me.