My new routine

Patty M. Luzzi
Saturday
January 27, 2007
As a columnist, my week had been so routine. After I sent off my column on Wednesday evening, I would take two days off. All appointments for doctors, haircuts, and lunch with readers and friends happened on Thursday s and Fridays. On Saturday morning, I enjoyed a cup of hot Earl Grey tea (always Tazo brand), and a slice of peanut butter toast while I read the King County Journal. The rest of the day was always a mystery, often a tangle of kids, friends, chores, and a hyperactive husband.

On Sunday I would start the process of coming up with a topic for the next column. Often something that our pastor said in his sermon would trigger an idea. I jotted notes in a little notebook that I carried with me at all times. Sunday was a good day to cook. I often tackled more elaborate recipes on that afternoon. Yet all the time I was "noodling," as Lenny called it: coming up with ideas and anecdotes that I could use. A whiteboard on the fridge kept brilliant ideas until I needed them.

On Mondays I would catch up from the weekend, doing a little bit of cleaning, laundry, and running important errands. Just before dinner, if an idea was solid, I would sit down and knock out the first draft of my column. On Tuesdays, I would re-visit the first draft, make some changes, and fret about the ending. All the time I was thinking, thinking, thinking, and wondering if I might have to start over. Often I did scrap the entire piece and head down another rabbit hole of memory just to see where it would lead. On those Tuesday nights when I was unsure of my work, the Wednesday deadline lurked like a friendly monster under the bed. I slept fitfully.

I never planned anything for Wednesdays if I could help it. It was the day I was glued to the computer. I didn’t answer the phone; I rarely went out even to the store. My family knew that it was Deadline Day, my proscribed day of grumpiness. But the tension would disappear the moment I hit the Send key.

And now, after 311 weeks, I have no routine. I slept Tuesday night without the monster under the bed. I’m giddy with possibilities. I hauled out a craft project I had started, and decided to pay some attention to our yard. It looks like a war zone after the November and December storms. We have fences to rebuild, and lots of debris to pick up. I decided that this is why God made sons.

In many ways, I feel like a bride. I’m beginning a new life, and I have so many ideas about what I want to accomplish. I received hundreds of e-mails from my readers, and this is the forum I have chosen for my weekly offering. I hope to post something that resembles my weekly column by Saturday mornings so that you can print it off, and we can have breakfast together. I know it’s not a newspaper, but it is what it is.

Also like a bride, I feel so loved by those of you who sent me the gift of your e-mail address. I will answer all of your notes as soon as I can. Please feel free to send the link for this blog to anyone. I’m sure there will be some bugs to work out, but I’m determined to learn. And I appreciate your company on this journey. And as usual, please e-mail me at pattyluzzi@yahoo.com or leave me a comment above.