The kids went back to school last Wednesday and with their teachers assigned to them on Monday, I have been on an odyssey to regain all the energy I can before restarting Mabel.

It seems so strange to me that I thought I could go from 24-7 mum all summer, finding things to do with the kids every day and then switching gears and dropping them off at school thinking I’d come right home and open my computer and get started.

But that hasn’t happened at all. It almost feels like I need to reawaken my creativity from hibernation. She has been snoozing this summer, under a blanket at the beach, while the rest of us go swimming, walk the beach, practice our dives and now September is here, I’m having a hard time waking her up.

I wanted to rush back to editing and rewriting. At least I thought I did. But then I found a recipe for Apple Jelly, and Rose Petal Jelly, and my creativity told me she wanted to rest a while longer, slowly flexing her muscles with knitting up a new pair of Madeleine Tosh yarn socks.

My creativity wanted to be part of my son’s 10th drag racing birthday party last weekend, and most of all she wanted to gradually come to the computer on her own. And I’m ok with that because I really don’t think you can force an artist to work. Who am I to fight the artist within? Me thinks October beckons and so does my return to the Mabel Hartley stories.