In a few hours, my older brother, his fiancee and I go to claim free ice cream at the opening of the new Coldstone's. :D We're also gonna see Oceans 12, which I hear is supposed to be a brainless but fun ride. That's the afternoon and early evening. After we come back, I'll probably exercise, read Bible and some more Habits of Highly Successful People, do my Sybervision Spanish lesson, and then write some more of Erthe - the Faeries' Story from 10pm to midnight or so. This is my day.

Twelve more days until I'm back at school. The days trickle past. Unlike last breaks, when time sped up as I got more used to being home, this one is slowing down. I spend most of the days looking forward to the evenings, which race by so fast that I'm back to day before I know it again. Still, by God's grace I have accomplished some good things. I have read two of the books that I wanted to, and I'm working through the others. I've spent time with family, and I've rested. I baked probably more than 500 cookies and distributed them to the four winds in Christmas packages. I sang in the Christmas choir concert at church. I've been going through the Spanish course I bought last semester to supplement my ineffective PHC clase de espanol, and I've written so far another 3500+ words of what may some day be my book. This latter is especially giving me joy, and making me feel worthwhile.

So why are the days passing so slowly? I think I miss my friends. The other day I shocked myself by telling my little sisters, "It's only two weeks until I go back home!" Home doesn't feel like the most comfortable place for my heart and soul any more. Home is frozen in stasis, always the same, never changing. I am changing. I have changed this past semester, in some indefinable way. The unprecedented ease in writing that I am experiencing has something to do with it, I think. I am writing about Susan, a little wayward faerie who will grow up into someone quite important. I know her entire story, and the entire story of her world, and it gives me great pleasure. I like the story I'm writing, and I can't wait to see it take shape. Nor am I struggling over the details. They come to me as I write, and they're fun. As I type out events, I feel myself wrapped up in them. If I leave Susan in suspense, I can't stop until I take her out of it.

Never have I felt this before when writing. I know not only Susan's story, the "middle story" of what will be my trilogy, but I know how it will connect with the Phoenixes' (before) and Humans' (after) stories. I described Erthe itself in such detail last summer that I know the framework in which I write. All that remains is for me to peel back the layers and reveal the world, piece by piece, to other people. I have such a great feeling of anticipation... Is this all what it means to feel the "Muse" working, when one asks God to make one's words His own?

I also have so many more real stories to add into the mix, what with having begun my study of history this past semester. I can't wait to continue it and learn more of our own world's history. That helps me so much in creating a single, cohesive whole of my fictitious universe. Meanwhile, I can't get carried away with my own success. I have written only 6534 words of my first book, and I have so much more story to cover before I'm done. Then, before I can know that it really does make sense, I shall have to write the books for the Phoenixes' Story and the Humans' Story. Ooh! It gives me shivers when I think of how neatly they fit together. :) This trilogy will really be a synthesis of everything I know and want to say at the present time when it is done, plus I hope that it will contain some just plain fascinating stories of interesting people and creatures. :) Erthe is pronounced "erth-eh," by the way, with all the accent on the first syllable.

So I greatly enjoy my hours writing and thinking about my story, though mostly because I anticipate bringing back several new chapters to the UWC (Unnamed Writing Club) this spring. Never have I written this much in successive sittings. Never, in fact, have I written so much on any one story. Every new page I write makes that much more of a new record for me. Perhaps that also gives me some of the excitement I'm feeling.

Much of the rest of my time does drag, however. It went much faster when I was frenetically baking. I wish I had some physical job to do that would involve my hands, but the job I'm doing for my parents is purely mental, and very boring. That is, it uses my brain alone, but only a tiny portion of my brain. The rest of my thoughts wander everywhere imaginable and tend to overwhelm the tiny bit that is supposed to be working. So time passes slowly. Still, in the end, it will pass. I should try to enjoy it for what it is - an earned respite in my hectic schedule. I can always read friends' blogs. Christy's is quite fun, and updated often at large extent.

God is good, and I have only things to be thankful for.  ¶ 11:52 AM