reading and writing

I love it when I have a good writing day! It was revising, really--but if I can't get the beginning firmly jelled, I can't write the ending, so it was important. I'm not done, but I've been making progress on the first three chapters. Hopefully people will go to bed on time and I get the chance to write more.

I also spent the afternoon after school reading the rest of The Star of Kazan to my daughter, who got it for Christmas. What a perfect book! I think one of the child appeals is that the villains all Get Their Justice at the end. Not to mention horses, jewels, orphans and nobility, and cooking. (Whoever was looking for books with food--food is extremely important in this one!) Anyhow, if you are having trouble envisioning just what the Lipizzaner horses at Vienna's Spanish Riding School (Spanische Hofreitschule) do, check out this brief but very cool video.

Now I'm off to make crab cakes and um, get my house straightened up a bit. Tomorrow I'm watching a little boy for a few hours so his mom can get some rest and attend to the brand new baby they've just adopted. I should have been cleaning my house today, no doubt, but the writing felt good! And tomorrow the cold I'm feeling coming on will be in full force, and I won't be able to do anything at all.

I hope everyone's having a great day!