Friday miscellany: Nashville, novels, etc.

Happy Friday everyone! This has been a productive week so far, if a cold one!

I flew to Nashville on Sunday for business. While I was there I took some extra time to think about my next non-fiction book. I am quite taken with the “Tranquility by Tuesday” title, and my collection of time management rules, but it won’t just feature straight up time makeovers. I am enjoying running those here, but what works in a blog post doesn’t always work in a book that needs a unifying theme and a longer narrative arc. Anyway, always good to spend some time doing strategic thinking!

In my mind, before I flew to Nashville, I was thinking “oh, Tennessee in November, it’s not going to be that cold. I wonder if I even need my coat?” Then I looked at the weather prediction: snow and getting down to 17 degrees. Whoa! A hat and gloves went in the bag too. I woke Tuesday morning to a light dusting — and stayed inside much of the day.

I did make a pilgrimage to Parnassus Books — famed independent bookstore — while I was there. I buttoned my coat as best as I could. That means the two top buttons and then letting my belly hang out. As you can imagine, this looks ridiculous. I had been resisting ordering a maternity coat because, well, I don’t like spending money, particularly for something that I’m only going to wear for 9 weeks. But I chose one from Seraphine that has an attachment you can use to button your newborn into the coat as a carrier, so maybe I’ll get some more use out of it. Also, someone pointed out to me that this was the sort of thing I could probably have asked for on a local parents’ Facebook group; no doubt someone else has a used maternity coat sitting in her closet. Oh well. I’ll donate or pass along mine for sure.

I kept up my pace of devoting an hour a day to editing my novel. I am tentatively calling this one “The Norwegian Secret to Enjoying Winter” (also the title of a non-fiction post I wrote  a few years ago). Halfway through the month, I have now hacked my way through the manuscript once. I actually kind of…like it. It’s a book I would enjoy reading. However, I’m not sure how many other people will; it doesn’t fit easily into any genres. At some point I probably need to get some test readers and see if they throw the manuscript across the room. If they do…well… there is still something to be said for writing for an audience of one.

On Thursday, I recorded two episodes of Best of Both Worlds, and 5 episodes of Before Breakfast. I’m trying to get ahead on both of these for taking a break in January/February. We’re recording an episode next week on our 2020 goals…which means I need to sit down and think about my 2020 goals!

I turned in an article for a major publication on why we’re fascinated with large families. My Medium column this week argues that “Weeknight Family Dinner Won’t Make or Break Your Children.”

Since I know I have some readers with high school aged children, I’m passing along news of one of the best scholarships out there. Years ago, I helped Jan and Bob Davidson write a book called Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds. Every year their foundation gives large scholarships to young people doing great work. You can learn more here. And here’s the blurb, below:

2020 Davidson Fellows $50,000, $25,000 and $10,000 Scholarships

The Davidson Institute offers high-achieving young people across the country the opportunity to be named a 2020 Davidson Fellow, an honor accompanied by a $50,000, $25,000 or $10,000 scholarship in recognition of a significant piece of work in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Music, Literature, Philosophy or Outside the Box. Applicants must submit an original piece of work that is recognized as significant by experts in the field and that has the potential to make a positive contribution to society. The scholarship may be used at any accredited college or university. The 2020 application opens November 20 and the deadline to apply is February 12, 2020.