Tempting Fate

I mentioned to someone in an email the other day that it seems like every time I set myself a writing deadline, life blindsides me with an emotional sucker punch. I took a few weeks off of writing after the last one to read some books, but I decided yesterday that relaxation time was over: I would have a new story done by Friday. I even announced said intention to Ben, who is succeeding admirably in being productive. Silly me. I should have heard the evil cackling from the wings as soon as I did that.

So, now my dad has had a stroke and is in the hospital. Fortunately, it was a mild stroke and he seems to be doing okay, all things considered. But I need to go down to L.A. to see him post-haste, since my stepmom is the only one there to take care of him and she has her hands full already. I haven't seen my dad nearly as often in the past year as I should have. And the twitchings of guilt are threatening to leave me unstrung.

The original plan was to head back to L.A. when my contract was up at the end of February, at which time we'd have a better grasp on whether Brad was going to sign on for another several months here and we'd have to relocate our household or if we were both returning to palm trees and sunshine. But now it looks like I'm headed back with all of that still up in the air.

Ah, well. Off to go figure things out.