Working Through the Busyness

by Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m tired. I feel as if I’ve been on a non-stop roller coaster since Thanksgiving. And the tired is just about to catch up with me, as soon as someone lifts the bar and lets me off this ride.

Sometimes life just takes over and we find ourselves in the midst of just too much busyness. And we can’t stop it because we have to do the things we have to do, like it or not. As my beloved niece is fond of saying, it is what it is.

That’s where I’ve found myself the past few weeks. I’ve completed my first novel and I’ve been hard at work on the edits with the best editor out there IMHO. But in the midst of trying to finish the first round of edits, my husband and I had to go from our little villa in Florida to North Carolina where our home there was being renovated.

An Unexpected Journey

by Debra DuPree Williams                                                                           @DDuPreeWilliams

Back in 2011, when my husband and I lived with our eldest son and his family for a few months, I spent a great deal of time with our then, fourteen-month-old granddaughter. She was a delight, as was her seven-year-old sister. Their needs were very different. Jim chauffeured P to all of her camps and activities while I remained at home with E.

E and I spent many happy hours devouring every little board book and every picture book in their home. She had her favorites. One of those was about a band. Since she comes from a long line of musicians, including her dad who plays guitar and drums, and her mother who was a drummer in a rock band back in her school days, I think it was just a genetic thing for her to be drawn to that little book.

But one of her books made me cringe every time I read it. The rhythm of the words was off. I had a hard time reading that book, but E loved it, so I read it anyway and tried not to make too many faces.

One night I thought, I can do this. I’ve written poetry all my life. I think I could write a children’s book. So, I set about giving it a go. I wrote a book about music, of course (I have two degrees in music). It wasn’t a grand book, but it was a start. It featured an adorable little conductor whom I called Maestro Musik. It taught some basic music lessons, too.