My back hurts. Pre COVID-19 I would have said, “Dang, I had a tough workout yesterday!” but now I wonder if my body aches are the start of the virus. The thing is, I know because I had a Zoom workout with my trainer, did aqua exercise and power-washed part of the house, there’s no doubt of the source of my pain. I worry about contracting the virus everyday, even though I’ve been wearing a mask in public since March 13, wearing one with my friends outside and can count who I have been around sans mask on one hand. I’ll make some new masks today to feel like I have some control over this pandemic.
I handed the rest of the power-washing over to my teenage son. He wants to buy a video game. I have so many chores that he can take off my hands. He hasn’t learning the art of perfectionism yet so his work needs checking. He is from the school of “good enough”. I am not fully convinced that he even sees the flaws in the work he does around the house. He will only do the dishes in the sink (usually a day after I ask him to). If there are dirty dishes on the counter or in his room, he is blind to them. When he mows the lawn, he misses areas or has a hard time figuring out that he needs to cut the tall grass holding the mower at an angle or raising the deck first. Then he can go back and cut it the proper length. I am grateful that he does his own laundry. Not so grateful that he thinks the living room couch is an extension of his closet. I am pretty sure when he is at his father’s house, he is held more accountable. It’s not that I want to be my son’s buddy but mostly I’m too busy to correct or nag him. I choose my battles wisely.
So I am taking it easy today. I’ll work on my book. After thirty or so rejections, I figure it is time to tweak it. Since no one has read more than ten pages, I know what needs to be retooled first. I ditched the prologue. I had originally written it as a memoir, changed it to a third person novel and now I am rewriting it as a first person novel. It feels like there is more connection that way. I wonder if I should ditch the spicy parts because they could be viewed as erotica, which makes some agents uncomfortable. My beta readers think I should leave it. Cut, cut, cut is also a goal. Get rid of the parts that impede the flow. Hard when it’s your baby. I tell photographers “Don’t fall in love with your work just because you know what you went through to get the photo. The viewer/reader has no idea of the backstory and a good photo/story is better more important than an okay one.
Nell Carroll Photography 