I Worked on My Novel and Collection, Even with This Nasty Cold #barrioblues

It seems like every time I'm about to finish my short story collection, Not Your Abuelita's Folktales, I get really sick. The two aren't related, of course, I'm just having a stretch of bad luck.  First the computer was on the fritz, then I got that awful chest cold over the holiday break that wouldn't quit, and now, that I have more free time, I'm sick again.  In the back of my mind, I think the universe is telling me to sit with my writing more or just sit. Still, I managed to get in some good work, and that is a victory!

I also cracked open my novel draft of The Harvest because I set it aside for so long, I started to forget what I wrote. Then, the duendes in my head started telling me the ending sucked, which was not the case.  Yesterday, I reread the last three chapters, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well they were put together.  That, of course, doesn't mean I don't need to revise my work.  In fact, I have more medical research to do, but overall, the plot is good. 

Well, I woke up at 1a.m. and took a crack at the last short story in the collection and went over old sections.  I don't feel well at all, and I am thinking about skipping Sunday school, but I had to miss last week because Simona was sick, and it was too cold to take the kids out.  I'm kind of being a wuss because I'm afraid to get bronchitis again, but I know it's an old wive's tale.  Even though you and I both know being out in the cold doesn't make you sick, I have taken my Tia Quia's advice who admonished me last Christmas for getting sick, and Tia is continuously lecturing me over the phone, so I am not longer showering in the mornings.  My hair will freeze off anyway, it's so cold here.  (Right now it's 43 degrees, which feels like summer.)

Well, it's back to bed for me.  Aaron asked that I make banana pancakes for breakfast this morning.  I hope he wakes me up.  Maybe I'll finish the last story of my collection with a bang (between grading and reading)!

Keep writing through your obstacles and ailments. #barrioblues

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