Getting back to work (sort of)

Ever since my six-week appointment, I have been trying to get back into the swing of work. Ha, ha, ha. On the two days since then that Iris has been on her regular schedule I got quite a good amount done online, but only wrote one new entry and finished maybe two chapters in my current book. Hmm. . .nice try. However, to help me get back into the swing of things, I ran across a free book contest on an author site I frequent for Jo Knowles. She then had links to other young adult author sites also having contests: Lisa Schroeder and Tiffany Trent. Maybe I'll get lucky! It seems like the start I need. However, I have been working on my writing at random times--it seems that lately things have just been coming to me out of nowhere. Maybe my creativity is finally waking up from the stagnation of California (apologies to all who are in CA. It's not that it is bad, but for some reason, I couldn't write there. For me I think it was more as Anne would say, that there was little scope for the imagination. Back on my home turf I seem to do much better). So, anyway, there was a deal with Jo Knowles' contest in which you would get another entry if you posted a ten-line poem. For those of you who know my writing, I'm not much of one for poetry. There is very little I even enjoy reading. But somehow, this just flowed out of me:

Giving up my time,
My lifestyle, my sanity;
I wondered: How can I do this?
Do I even have it in me?
How do I love and forgive
And have that much patience?
To give my life for cries and routines,
To exchange my clean house for a dirty one,
My restful nights for sleepless ones—
How will I cope?
But one look, the first touch;
The sweet smiles only for me—
The look that says: You are mine
And I am yours.
These have made it all worthwhile
And taught me that the greatest thing in life
Is to be a mom.

I know it's not great poetry, but it's a start. Josh is excited to have me writing again, so it was his wish for me to put it on the blog.
Josh and I had another date this past weekend, and we attended a house concert for David Nevue, a local pianist I love (though he was easier to see in California than he is in his hometown!). It never quite feels like Christmas until I've been to a piano concert, and the intimate atmosphere (there were only seats for 40 people) made this one exceptional! So now, let the season begin! If only I had time to decorate the tree sitting in my living room. . .