Thursday, August 22, 2013

Napping Hard, However, I Could Handle

Quite a number of years ago, I accused my then agent of wanting me to work hard.

It stood to reason that she would, since the more I worked, the more money she earned off of me.

My then agent gave me one of her patented staredowns.

"I want you to work hard and to play hard," she informed me.

I didn't tell her, because she scared me, but playing hard wasn't much more appealing than working hard. It had that rock climbing, paragliding, surfing with sharks sound to it. Then, as now, I'd rather just watch an old movie.

But the last couple of weeks, while I haven't exactly been playing hard, I've definitely been playing harder. It's a combination of summertime and not working, and frankly, it's left me exhausted.

Between a week ago Monday and day before yesterday Monday, I've seen 18 members of my extended family, 9 on my mother's side and 9 on my father's (age range under 2 to over 70). My mother's side of the family came up to see my mother; my father's side of the family I had to drive to Great Neck to see.

Friday, I went with a friend to Bethel Woods, for a quick trip through their museum and a concert. The weather was perfect. Here I am standing next to a peace bell, or some such thing.
Saturday I drove to Hartford and met a different friend for the United States Gymnastics Nationals. We had a great time. Saturday night we saw the women's finals and Sunday afternoon, we saw the men's. Neither one of us had ever been to a gymnastics event (we've gone to a number of figure skating competitions together) and didn't know quite what to expect.

The women competed one at a time, which was fine, but the men competed six at a time, which was fabulous. Here's sort of the view we had for the men (what you can't see is we were very close to where the gymnasts landed their vaults).
 
Yesterday, I drove down to the Hideous Mall In Nyack for lunch and movies (Blue Jasmine) with still other friends. Blue Jasmine will play where I live eventually, but I already had that date scheduled to see my friends, so it made sense to drive the extra hour. Besides, The Hideous Mall has a Barnes & Noble, so I got to see their 5 copies of The Shade Of The Moon.
 
When I haven't been driving all over the place to see famiy and friends and concerts and movies and gymnastics, I've been reading. I've even been writing about what I've been reading (although truth to tell, I've already finished reading that book and a few others since then).
 
For the next week or so, I have nothing on my calendar more strenuous than buying groceries. Then it's off to the Decatur Book Festival.
 
But more about that next week, when my energy level returns to normal!
 
 
 

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello, I hope you are having great day!

Nora Durbin said...

I would love a good nap. But with twin one year olds at home, those are few and far between.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good evening Anonymous and thank you and good evening Nora Durbin and her twins.

I did have a great day, a visit with my mother and lunch with my friend Marci and a long phone visit with another friend.

And I don't even want to think about how exhausting one year old twins must be!

Anonymous said...

Hello Mrs Pfeffer,
My name is Emma and I from France . I loved the first two volumes of The Last Survivors but less the third . I wonder if there will be another volume after the fourth and when the fourth release in France ?
I'm a big fan of your work .
Have a nice day !
Goodbye
Emma

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Bonjour Emma-

There are no plans now for a fifth moon book, and sadly, no plans for a French publication of The Shade Of The Moon.

If anything changes, I'll definitely post it here!

Anonymous said...

Good evening Mrs Pfeffer ,
Thank you for responding ! So the fourth volume is the last , ok . I'm really sad that there is no French publication ,but I'll try to read it even if it is in English !
Thank you Mrs Pfeffer,
Aurevoir
Emma

Teacher4067 said...

Well. I will be needing a nap tomorrow as I just stayed up way too late to finish The Shade of the Moon. I just wanted to say thank you for your wonderful books. What is it called when there are four? Trilogy for 3... Is there a name for 4? Perhaps I should google that. Anyway, I loved the ending, it left me feeling hopeful, and that is greatly appreciated!

Caroline said...

I finally got your new book today :) it's really good so far.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello again to Emma and hello to Teacher4067 and to Caroline-

If you're classy enough (which I am not) four books are a quartet. For me, I guess it's a series, or maybe a trilogy plus one.

And except for the distant thunder, today is a perfect day for a nap!

Anonymous said...

Or it could be a saga.

Anonymous Santa Fe

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi Anonymous Santa Fe-

My naps are frequently sagalike!

Anonymous said...

I meant the books.

Anonymous Santa Fe

Unknown said...

I'm so sad just finished the fourth book and I need more!

-Paola

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good evening Paola Lopez-

If my publisher ever needs more books, I'll be happy to write them!