Love day

I'm off to my spot by the big window in a bookstore cafe, where I will continue pushing hard to meet word count on my current project. It's definitely going better than before, with a couple of the book's most pivotal chapters already in the can.

In the mail last night, I received a box of hard copies of the last book I wrote, which will be published on March 3. It's always more real when you hold that first beautifully bound copy in your hands! And the book's editor at Simon & Schuster put up a lovely post on social media, in which she gave me public credit, even though I was a true ghost on this work, and my name isn't on the cover. I so appreciate her doing this. We pour our whole selves into the writing, we make a faithful work of trying to channel another person's story in a way that will feel true and right to them. So, not gonna lie, it feels good to be acknowledged for that effort. I don't think it's ego, exactly. It's more like desiring a public declaration of a thing you helped make with love.

It's Valentines Day, and my niece who lives with us has gone away with friends for the long weekend, which means it will be just the man and me over dinner and wine tonight, gazing into each other's eyes.  I wish everyone here a pair of eyes to gaze into, eyes that you dearly love—a lover, a child, a parent figure, a sibling, a cousin, a cohort, a guide. The photo was taken by my friend Susan and she gave me permission to post it. I saved it especially for today.