Ah vacation... or not...
So my schedule today -- up early to get writing on a column due this afternoon. Finished that up fairly quicky, and set to work on updates for the
Islamic Writers Alliance webpages announcing the IWA 2006 poetry contest (more below), posting the March edition of the IWA news, and preparing a logo for the IWA bi-annual bulletin, Islamic Ink. Then rewrites of the column to meet my editor's critique, fix lunch for the kids, mpre website work, rush off to the post office to mail forms that had to be postmarked today, and now to update my blog.
Did I say I was on vacation??? Except for the fact that I don't have to take any kids to karate or music lessons, seems like a pretty average day. Maybe that explains why I usually come back from vacations feeling worn out. That and the extra work of packing and unpacking, catching up on backlogged emails and stacks of snail mail at home...
Sometimes I long for a truly relaxing vacation. There's a women's writer's retreat on an island outside of Seattle that has been calling me. Three weeks, a month with no phone, no internet, just nature, fellowship with other writers, and a laptop that only has Word on it. In my dreams, my writer friends will be at this retreat with me -- Jamilah, Nochipa, Louise, Leila, -- and we sit on the veranda or walk in teh woods talking writing and life and everything! Wow! Man do I have good imagination! Of course, it'll be another ten years or so till I can take advantage of that, but as I age, ten years doesn't seem so long to wait.
Tomorrow, I plan to really vacation, like I did yesterday -- running in the waves with my kids, perhaps strolling through an outdoor mall, putting my feet up and reading.
And, to close up, as promised -- the announcement about the
Islamic Writers Alliance 2006 poetry contest. Just in time for National Poetry Month. This year's theme is The Prophet Muhammad, and I encourage everyone to submit! Muslim or non-Muslim! Poems due April 30th, to
poetrycontest@islamicwritersalliance.net. For more info, check the link above.