Wonky Priorities

Just to get it out there, nobody is going to beat Jenny Gardiner’s blog today, so you really need to go over there first. Then, when you get back in your chair, you can read my much-less-interesting musings…


There was a time that if someone had said, “want to spend the evening at a bar listening to alternative bands?” I would have said “Duh! Obviously!” Well tonight I have the opportunity to go to a place called Cargo Clutch (apparently a renovated church turned bar—like that spin) and listen to four bands and I feel like whining and getting in the tub and writing. So what’s changed?

Am I Old?

There is some truth to this. I’m not going to go so far as to claim I’m a grown up, but wildness for the sake of wildness doesn’t have nearly the draw that it used to. Oh, sure… I parade around here as a wild child—and given the right friends and situation, I usually AM leading the trouble. But tonight I am escorting my fourteen-year-old and two of her friends. Being a mother of a teen can make anybody feel old. The concert is an hour from home, so me caring for kids and then driving means no drink with the music, something that, were I there with friends, I would undoubtedly do.

Am I Out of Touch?

I like music. In fact my genre of choice would be ALTERNATIVE music. But once we started having babies, I really quit paying all that much attention. For about a decade I listened almost exclusively to CDs or NPR and so missed everything new on the music front. Then, when my daughter started paying attention, initially it was all those annoying artists…Britney Spears (thankfully very brief), Jonas Brothers… It wasn’t until she hit middle school that her tastes improved and I started paying attention again (and stealing the songs she bought for her iPod). I like a lot of what she listens to. I can thank her for my Chad Kroeger obsession. But I’ve never heard any of the three bands tonight.

My daughter’s insistence on going is grounded in a band called Mayday Parade. There is also a band called The Secret Handshake. Both bands appear young, but at least not overly wholesome (that would just be annoying). I have a feeling though, that the audience will leave me feeling, yes… old and out of touch.

But my REAL issue…

I’d just rather be a writing maniac than out on a Friday night. How geeky is that? The book is coming along well. I’m writing Chapter 20—my last few nights of super-busy have slowed me (and tonight no writing at all) but on Sunday when I hit the 4 week mark from when I really got going, I think I will have written 20 full chapters in just 4 weeks (200 pages). That is an INSANE writing pace, considering I wrote CONFLUENCE at 2 chapters a month and considered that good progress.

As to CONFLUENCE… still need to get that Query revamped and the synopsis polished before I am up to trying yet another round… still not touching it until my LEGACY mojo slows down…

Anyway… I am off to my son’s first cross country meet in less than an hour… marathon night, and then FINALLY some sleep so I can get back to the writing!!!

Leaves me wondering what exactly has happened to my priorities…