My friend Kallie has recently informed me that “I’ve been busy” is a conversation stopper and that, instead of claiming busyness, we’re supposed to be specific about our activities.

So, here’s what I’ve been doing for the last couple days…

* Workshopping non-fiction with gifted students at Citadel Middle School. It was a ton of fun. The students (and teachers!) were talented, engaged, and willing to share their stories, which is something I particularly appreciate in a workshop.

* Cleaning. Because the night before my Citadel visit, my daughter came down with a fever. Min gallantly did a late-night run to his office and brought his work home for the day, freeing me to pretend that writing is glamorous. And then I came home and it looked like SQUATTERS HAD MOVED INTO MY HOUSE!

* Nursing. It’s easy to nurse my daughter back to health, really. It involves pouring glasses of juice and downloading new books on the Kindle.

* Writing yet another proposal. (What am I thinking?)

* Not actually working on what I’m supposed to be writing.

Today is much calmer around here. Reasonably clean, too. So, am I about to embark on my writing? Well, no. First I’m going to teach a group of grade one students how to make chocolate thumbprint cookies, then I’m heading downtown to see The Quiet Volume, which sounds amazing. And as my daughter is still a little pinkish, Min is heading home from work once again to manage childcare.

Hmmm… maybe don’t tell him that I complained about the squatters thing.