Kage Baker let very little interfere with her writing. One of the things that usually could distract her was family. Especially baby family. Especially when one is hiding from inhuman heat.
The last few days, I have been happily wallowing in the company of some of my semi-demi-hemi-grandchildren. I am pleased to report that I am a roaring success as a Grandma, but it means I haven’t written a word in 4 days.
But I have been ever so busy with getting shoes and clothes on giggling little people (they are two, and have totally mastered undressing. Crazy little nudists.), diapering, offering encouragement to eat real meals, being fed fresh-picked blackberries from tiny purple fingers, catching and throwing all manner of stuffed animals and pillows, singing, telling stories, tickling, making percussion instruments out of paper clips and Tupperware …
Being Grandma is hard work. And worth every minute of effort, too. The joy of a bus ride with a sleepy toddler on your lap is one of the acute delights of life. I recommend it to anyone with pains, aches or high blood pressure, because there is simply nothing so sweet in all creation.
In between times I have stayed up late with the twins’ wonderful parents, discussing Faire, comic books, knitting, art and authorial business. Jason s also a writer; he and I have been brain-storming. And both he and Misty are alumni of Faire, so we have had some marvellous sessions of “Do you remember the time that? …”
Another under-appreciated joy of life is talking to people who remember the same things you do.
So, all in all, Dear Readers, while I have been doing some very successful re-stuccoing of the cracks in my sanity, I haven’t done much else that’s of any use. But I will. Tomorrow I will be joining Linn-the-agent for a week of serious writer stuff, and more timely attention paid to this blog. Seattle is cool and delightful right now and I am a new, revivified woman.
Time spent with babies and family is never, ever wasted. Kage said it was one of the things that always re-charged her batteries … and in fact, I have some new ideas and new approaches to old problems already! A weird sign in a McDonald’s that caught my attention; my grandbabies’ habit of hunting and eating rainbows; the strangely lordly cat Harrison, who appears to be metamorphosing into a dragon …
New shoots are sprouting from the ashes of my flash-fried brain.
Kathleen, Kage and the Company 
Fiction is important, but family matters more. As for your brain being flash-fried – no, I think you may be an avatar of some kind of volcano goddess. There have been eruptions, and the lava flows are aging swiftly into fertile soil.
Go, Granny, go!
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“Successful re-stuccoing of the cracks in my sanity” is more than most of us can accomplish on anything resembling a regular basis…. If four days or a week is what it takes, your faithful readers will understand.
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Wonderful, wonderful!
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“Another under-appreciated joy of life is talking to people who remember the same things you do.” Yeah. 🙂
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That’s one of the reasons I stay with Facebook, too. Most of the people I talk to are Faire people, or Kage fans, or both.
Kathleen kbco.wordpress.com
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Both, here. Love- Buff
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And it’s cool outside. I don’t begrudge it to you, you understand, but I am a wee bit jealous.
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I’m glad you’re feeling better.
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