Finally back up to speed! (And that speed is slow. But still.)

The view from the comfy chair in my study. Where I
spent a lot of time recovering from that pesky pulled ab.

I know I'd posted that I was good as new and back to writing, but then I had a recovery set-back that quite literally landed me on my ass for two weeks. Who knew you could pull an ab muscle? Or that I even had ab muscles under all this untoned glory? Apparently it's a fairly common complication when patients get back into exercise after a hysterectomy with muscle repair. I've always had a love-hate relationship with running, but when I ended up on the sidewalk throwing up after 2 miles? Yeah, definitely hate-hate.

But I really am all mended now. I took the good advice that a few of you gave me and took it easy, and I'm happy to say that I'm back to running again (but not a 2 mile sprint two months after major abdominal surgery...that was not my brightest idea). So I'm back up to speed, even if that speed is much slower than I'd like it to be.





I spent a few days in April in Portland with a great group of Dreamspinner Press authors at the annual Dreamspinner Press Author's Workshop, and I came home revitalized and ready to get back to writing.

While my progress on training for a half-marathon are slow thanks to my surgery and set-back, my creative muscles are working overtime plugging along at a merry pace on my latest manuscript. I'm settled back into a normal writing routine, which has brought a flurry of productivity both on Playing House (the third in the Dropping Anchor series) and in other areas.

The Barnacle in her
sparkly Anna dress.

Does anyone else have a spike in general creativity when they're writing regularly? When I make the effort to get my butt in the chair and write a certain amount daily I tend to suddenly have urges to start other creative projects. (And not as a procrastination method...in addition to the writing! *g*)

A poorly lit shot of my great
new chevron headboard.

So far I'm 25K into the Playing House manuscript, and I've managed to make my daughter an Anna costume (from Frozen), rescreen a patio door to allow for a nice cross-breeze while I'm writing in my study, build an adorable headboard (from scratch!) for my bedroom, experiment with making my own organic hair styling wax (it's working pretty well) and deodorant (it's not), and make wildflower seed paper with the kids for their teacher cards. (You can plant the paper flowers they made and real flowers will grow. How cool is that?)

Hair wax...in old
Easter eggs, since
I didn't have
containers.

What nonwriting things do you do when your creativity is spiked?