Day 11: I read a quarter of my book out loud, or I should say, I whispered it. It’s hard to gauge how badly sound carries at the barn. I like to listen to music as I write and edit. I keep it as low as a I can and not use headphones. I have a tendency of jumping out of my seat at certain points in my writing and dancing. Not a cool move if your head is connected to your laptop.

It was funny to see all the connections in my pieces. Some of these pieces were four years old, some I wrote last year. When I began writing these pieces, I didn’t foresee a novel, and yet, I found now that the pieces followed a trajectory.  Tonight, after dinner, we watched the first episode of Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake. I felt pleasantly dumbfounded by the scenarios introduced. Back in my studio that night, I read the following words in my research notes: “Nothing lasts. Nothing is finished. Nothing is perfect.” (Def. Wabi-Sabi).

Day 12:  I took the day off from writing and slept. I spent the afternoon reading The Nation and the U.K.-based tabloid, Mirror online (my world views need balance). At night, we had wine with dinner, whisky after dinner, and watched two episodes of Top of the Lake. I had trouble sleeping that night, so I caught up on my blog posts and finally crashed at 3:30AM.

Day 13: I’m in charge of cooking Sunday’s dinner. I settled on a Sausage and Tomato Lasagna for the carnivores, and a spinach and cheese version for the vegetarians. The secret to good lasagna is the sauce. Make it the day before and refrigerate overnight. The kitchen here is a cook’s kitchen complete with two sinks and a stocked pantry. I worked on the sauce and squeezed in some editing while it simmered. Another resident was in charge of tonight’s dinner.  Korean taco night, mofos. Don’t hate us because we’re beautiful!

[This post is a bit messy, apologies. Foggy brain. Must be all the fresh air.]