Really?

It seems that writing has become more difficult. When I go on vacation it is easier to set aside time to write. But living in-between makes it more challenging. Lately my focus has been more on finances and fitness.

On the financial end, I am really enjoying managing my funds. What an odd duck. And beginning to see a retirement account rise up has been fun. Allocating, setting aside, watching it grow a little..I digress.

And on the fitness end things are also going well. For several months now I have had an average of 2-4 workouts per week, and last month began running with success. Hopefully the end of this spring there will be a 5K race! Once moved to Kalamazoo, I hope this will become easier to manage, especially since it's getting warm and therefore less hassle to get out and RUN.

That leads us to the writing, however. The writing has got to increase. If this dream of doing something with writing is to ever go anywhere, it has got to become more polished. And I do so hate editing. But not yet will I focus on that. First comes the substance. The actual getting-thoughts-down-on-screen. So here's an exercise...a tidbit on the book I'm diving into currently:

Beneath a Marble Sky (BAMS from here on out) is the text, and I am reading it for a book club. Not so sure I'll finish before we meet next, but here's hoping. After finishing this post that's exactly where I'm going; to get my nose in those pages!

Anyway, BAMS is a fictionalized account regarding the building of the Taj Mahal. I'm realizing what a sucker I am for culturally-different writing. I love doing exactly what the princess has tried to do since taught by her mother as a child: imagining what you would do if you were someone else. And therefore how to act in order to see the results you deem most fitting. I'm not that conniving, of course ;-)

BAMS drove me nuts at first because the point of view is from a 12-year-old princess. But it's written by a man who I don't believe is from India. It seemed fake. But who am I (girl from a small-town who dabbles internationally) to know what really is fake concerning this historical fiction?

So I continued with John Shors' words. And glad I did. Princess Jahanara soon gained a few years and grew into her pretentious speech. I'm only 2/3 of the way through, but it's a bittersweet tale of passion and duty fighting for control in the royal family and the building of the Taj Mahal - well, in the mind of the princess, anyway. It's no longer a chore to keep turning the pages.

Well, I'm off to put my nose you-know-where!