Hello, Dear Readers.

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine flew by at the sound of light, probably because I spent a lot of it working on a freelance story. I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation!

I planned to ease back into my routines this month, taking some time to get caught up on all the things that were neglected while I finished my novel Dragonfly Summer and trained for my red prajioud (muay armband). However, life–at least when it comes to kickboxing–has other plans.

A new fight camp, which will prepare me for my first fight and the green prajioud test, is set to begin on February 7th. That doesn’t give me a lot of time to relax, but I had to apply for it. If all goes well and I’m accepted for the camp, I’ll be taking the green test in April, right on schedule.

My kru also created a new class for a select group of students that will focus on flexibility and train us in the muay thai neck kick. When it is? Late Friday nights. Flexibility is something that always needs work, and I love learning a new skill, especially with other people who are dedicated and serious about their training. But needless to say, I’m not going to have much of life for the next few months (which is probably good, because I can’t really afford to have one).

The one part of my life that seems to be in limbo is writing. My alpha reader has let me know that he’ll have my manuscript back to me at the end of the month, so I’ll have plenty to do when it arrives, but what do I do in the meantime? Should I start a new book, knowing I’ll need to drop it and perhaps lose momentum in three weeks when the rewrites for Dragonfly Summer start? Should I focus on journaling or writing a short story? Or just relax and take care of other concerns until the end of month, when everything’s going to get crazy at again?

I finished reading Anne Murray’s autobiography All of Me last night. I’m not a huge Murray fan, but I do like some of her songs, and I grew up hearing her music. Hard to escape it if you’re Canadian. Her story–how she went from being a Canadian girl in a small mining town to one of the most successful female singers in history–is inspiring, and it made me itch to get back at the computer. There’s no time like the present to keep hacking away at the dream.

What would you do if you were me? And what are you working towards right now? If you’re a fellow writer, what project are you working on?

Thanks to the website Flickriver for photo.