I’m at the beach for the week. Not working on the novel,which has consumed my consciousness pretty much non-stop all summer. So it’s not easy putting on the brakes. I’m on an “enforced” time-out (enforcers being my writing-group partners, Amy Hoffman and Steve McCauley, to whom I am eternally grateful for everything.)And I know I need the distance to go back and edit and make my deadline (Dec 1)

So I am reading the papers, going to the beach, walking the dog, reading nonfiction and comic novels, trying not to worry about various friends and members of the family who face challenges of various sorts. Watching movies and sunsets. Seeing a few friends…

And basking.

The light at this time of year is so seductive and so elegaic. I’m on the North Shore, north of Boston that is, on Cape Ann. The marshes and the fields are showing a little color, but mostly it’s the slant of light in the late afternoon that transforms the world into a honeyed place, about to slide into autumn and the deep sleep of winter.

How wonderful. How sad. How grateful am I.