So, what've you been up to? I've bin reading:

It's taken awhile, but I finally finished this one: I wish I had been reading my own copy because there were so many thoughts that I woulda underlined. The author of this book is a writer. She loves to write. Words are constantly coming together in her head and she needs (no, really, writers NEED) to put those words somewhere. Stories are continually forming in her mind, plots are moving forward, ideas are percolating. Well, you get the idea.
.
But in addition to being a writer of words, she is a mom. And a daughter. And both those other roles put her in conflict with the desire she has to lock herself away in her ivory tower and write. It's especially hard for her to justify the time she actually does 'neglect' her family and pound away at her typewriter because at one point all she has to show for her dedication to assembling words is 10 years worth of rejection slips. TEN years.
.
L'Engle wanders all over the place in this book; sharing her thoughts on God, the arts, publishing, kids today, ("today" being 1972) (which surprisingly is alot like 2009) relationships and careers.
.
There is no tension, no climax, no who-dun-it mystery... just the musings of a writer.

Next book:

Perpetua - Story of a Martyr
The title gives the whole story away, doesn't it?
.
"The historical novel Perpetua: A Bride, A Martyr, A Passion is based on the real life and death of a young Roman noblewoman. Perpetua was martyred in the amphitheater of Carthage in 203 AD, but kept a diary of her arrest and time in prison. While many martyrs were poor or illiterate, Perpetua was neither. A new mother, a noblewoman, wealthy, highly educated… she had much to lose, and she chose to give it all away for the privilege of dying for Jesus. "

A good pre-Easter read.

And then last night I started this:

Why do I start books at midnight?
(Well, because I had TWO new epidsodes of The Office to watch, along with that new Parks and Rec show (meh) and then the new Southland show (from the creators of ER) and then there's the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and then the Colbert Report and before you know it, it's midnight and there's a new book, lent to me from Shannon, and a day-off-from-work in the morning - so I started reading.)

At 5 I put the book down and decided that instead of going to CLA's Good Friday service at 10 am, I'd go to the Abbotsford one in the evening.

So here we are, half-way through Good Friday and I'm not in a Easter mood. My kids decided to join their dad at SunPeaks for the weekend - Thurs eve til Mon night. If you're keeping track of these things, yes, they were gone most of Christmas break, including New Year's, they were away for Spring Break and now again at Easter.
Max said to me, "You get us everyday. What's the big deal?"
.
The big deal is that 'everyday' is not fun.
'Everyday' is everyone sitting in their own room clicking away on their laptops.
'Everyday' is grumbling about helping with dishes, or taking the garbage out, or mowing the lawn or having to eat meals together at the table, or ...
'Everyday' is me longing for some good memories for this season of our lives.
.
I'm whining.

I'll write again after church tonight. No doubt something in me will shift by then and my thoughts will re-align with the important stuff.

(One last thing about this book though. Have you read it? Did you know they're making it into a movie? What do you think about them casting Cameron Diaz as the MOM of three teenaged children?)