drink some margaritas by a string of blue lights

I spent most of the day trying to get a handle on what's going on with my book. I have almost 60,000 words -- and my previous books were all somewhere between 80,000-90,000 -- and yet I do not have a book or even a semblance of a book, which is becoming frustrating. However, I made some good progress today and I'm hoping to get deeper into it as the week progresses.

I spent the morning on my balcony working. At some point, I took a break for lunch (leftover scalloped potatoes and ham), and then I was going to write while sitting on my balcony again, but it was simply too hot to be outside even in the shade. So I worked inside, which was challenging because I just felt like napping.

Eventually, [censored] and I went out to our parents' for dinner - we had leftovers from yesterday, along with some leftover prime rib that had been in the freezer but that my dad cut thinly for sandwiches today. It was all just as tasty as it was yesterday, and the prime rib was even better than I remember it being when we had it before, so that was pretty great. And my mom made chocolate 'pie' (the chocolate pie filling in custard dishes, since she and I can't eat crust), which was a v. nice treat.

Then we came home, and I watched some writing videos while painting my nails (and watching people's fireworks through my office window). And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!