Month-in-Review Highlights: August 2024

Can you tell how much fun I had attending a discussion (and talking afterward!) with author Naomi Alderman at le Livre sur le Quai literary festival in Morges, Switzerland? August 31, 2024.

I postmortem each month shortly after it ends. Previously, I used these posts to hold myself accountable on progress toward my annual goals. Starting in January 2023, I broadened these posts to address more generally my observations and experiences for the month. (To read previous months’ reviews, click here.)

Late in the month I marveled at how gloriously long August seemed this year thanks to all the things I did and the people I saw and the places I went. As time usually seems to pass too quickly, my fingers sieving the months like dry sand, I found joy in experiencing a month that lingered.

We started August by leaving Burlington and heading to Montreal for a quick stay. We then flew to Houston for a few days to see my family there. After Houston, we went to New York City for a long weekend. Only then did we head home.

The NYC visit marked the celebration of a milestone birthday for one of us. (Not me!) We went to the theater more than once, visited museums, and even took guided tours. We take guided tours everywhere else we go, after all. Why not try them to dive deeper into a city we already know and love?

We made it back to Lausanne by midmonth. Though I did what I could while on travel to keep my head above water work-wise, a nefarious backlog had nonetheless accumulated. I focused long days right after our return in digging out as best I could, but the effort ended up consuming most of the rest of the month—at which point I had made it only somewhat back to baseline. After all, needing to dig out doesn’t preclude new stuff from dropping in.

In the last week of the month, I managed to return to my fiction efforts, focusing mainly on reorienting myself after the long pause in the revision work I had started for one novel. I did, though, spend a little thinking time on the novel-in-planning as well. So much work still to do on both book fronts. Getting back into them feels delicious after the pause, though, rather than overwhelming.

I also finally managed to make some progress on a financial-matters puzzle, on some confounding professional issues, and on decorating the home office I’ve worked in for, oh, only the past six-plus years. (What prompted the after-all-this-time progress? Putting it on my goals list, which I look at twice a month to keep on track. That’ll push you, I promise!)

Another benefit to having a busy month with lots of toing and froing? Anticipation for an autumn of calm and focus.