July 2023
What I'm Up To
The last few weeks have been Celebration Central in the Waldburger house. Two weeks ago, little baby E celebrated her first steps and her first birthday! We threw a party at the park so all the kids could run wild, and then of course it rained for most of the day. But we were lucky enough to get a window of decent weather so the kids could burn off some energy on the playground, and M got to use his new rain boots and umbrella, so everything worked out. (But we had a ton of cake leftover. Like a ton.)
Then a week later, the Mr. and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. My mom came over to watch the kids and we got to go out to dinner and enjoy a meal without interruptions, meltdowns, or a single episode of Paw Patrol. It was a pretty fantastic evening, culminating in a beautiful walk along the river where Mr. proposed (which is a fun story—I’ll save that for later).
And finally, we wrap up the craziness with today: my birthday! This morning, I enjoyed a nice long walk with my kids and one of my best friends, got some delicious coffee, and now I'm looking forward to a dinner of grilled steak and potatoes curtesy of the Mr. And oh my goodness, friends, his grilled potatoes are the best. I'm so excited.
On My Desk
I am two chapters away from wrapping up revisions on The First Wordweaver. The next step is to send it out to beta readers, and then I’ll get started on finalizing my last run-through of Wordweaver. I’m also looking into a subscription model of sharing my work, mostly through sites like Patreon and Ream, but I’ve just started preliminary research into those models. If I decide to pursue either of those routes, you’ll be the first to know!
What I'm Reading
For my birthday, the Mr. got me a book that’s been on my TBR list for years: On Writing by Stephen King. I’m not a horror fan, so this will be my first King book, and I’m super excited about it. With sections like “And Furthermore, Part I”, “And Furthermore, Part II”, and “Further to Furthermore, Part III”, how can it not be great?
Poetry Corner
In honor of baby E’s birthday, here’s a poem I wrote when I was about 20 weeks pregnant with her.
I will share my history with you,
there’s no way around that.
I can’t take away the German hips or crooked teeth,
the history of cancer and depression,
the addiction to poetry that has plagued our house for generations.
But I promise to pay for your braces and therapy
and to get you a library card.
I will share my present with you.
I trace my hand over the flutters,
embrace the nausea, the backaches,
the fact that I can’t take any medication
or eat sushi.
I sing to you in the shower
and talk out loud when I feel you listening,
and I promise that when you can do more than kick for attention,
I will listen too.
I will share my future with you,
the hopes and tools for facing despair,
because there’s plenty, and it won’t be gone
by the time you get here.
I will let you fail safely, so you can
figure out how to fly, and I will
watch from the ground as you soar to places
I was too afraid to reach.
And I will love you even if you do all that
from only the safety of your imagination.