Week 12, Day 6 — Family Time

I'm writing this post from the comfort of the sofa at mum and dad's house, where I'm sprawled out feeling pretty full and content. We've been out tonight for a family meal at Lochside House Hotel in Ayrshire, and what a feast we were treated to. The occasion was Aunty A heading back to Australia this week after several visits with us over the past few months; she's been using us a base for her worldly travels after finishing up her most recent job, and has been to Turkey, Spain, Marrakech, Brazil and made several trips to London in between.

I've talked about Aunty a few times in my blog; she got a mention right back on Day 1, in fact, and I wrote about the great weekend she spent with me in Glasgow last month. We really are kindred spirits, and I always go through a period of mourning when she leaves. I'm very grateful for the brilliant relationship we have and all the time we've managed to spend together this trip. I'm going to miss her as always.

I wrote for a few hours this morning before leaving for the train, and managed to finish the first draft of my new play. I already knew I wasn't happy with the direction I took it in and suspect the last two scenes will get the chop during editing, but it still felt satisfying to bring it to a conclusion and draw a line under it. In the past I've been guilty of excessive idealism, editing my writing as I go along to the extent that I sometimes lose sight of what I wanted to achieve and never finish at all. This time I felt happy to just go with the flow, experiment a bit even when I wasn't keen on it, then say nope—must try harder! I think I'll let it rest a week before attacking it with a red pen in preparation for a major rewrite.

I've got my big Artist's Day to look forward to tomorrow—I've been storing this one up for weeks to celebrate reaching the end of the journey. It's probably something a lot of people would scoff at as it's so trivial, but to me it's a decadent treat that takes me right back to my childhood. Let's just hope I don't feel as full and bloated as I do now by the time I get to Glasgow tomorrow, or I'll need someone to roll me around town!

K