I want to write a book entitled “The Time Thief.” It will be about an individual who literally takes time away from people – their days suddenly become shorter and they have less time to get things done. There would still be the illusion of a 24 hour day, but in actuality, the victim would have just 16 hours to get stuff done as well as a good night’s sleep.

“The Time Thief” would eventually be made into a movie, and the leading man would be Jack Nicolson. I will play myself. I’ll be a writer who suddenly finds that she only has an hour a day to write, previously I had eight hours. The line I will repeatedly utter will be “What gives?!”

Alys and Tyra doing agility

This would be semi-autobiographical. I am attempting to figure out where time goes. Today, for example, I worked on bookmarking literary sources, culled from rejection notices. I then spent the rest of the day with the horses. This was until 11 p.m. I got them all out, did carrot stretches with them all, and did agility with Hrimmi and Raudi. I also did a practice round with Tyra.

I took Tinni, Raudi, and Tyra and the trails. After dinner, Pete went for a ride with me. All day, it was overcast and drizzling. We need this sort of weather, but we don’t need it all summer.

I realized that this, the near-final portion of my project, bookmarking the reject letters, is well worth my time because I am reacquainting myself with literary journals, and as I do this, I’m thinking of what I’ll submit to them. However, this is going to take longer than I originally thought because I have so many of these notices.

It was pointed out to me by a friend that I should write a final chapter for “Forks,” this about the Alaska State Fair being cancelled. It was suggested that I talk with those I interviewed in the book. This, I said, is an excellent idea. This message also made me realize that I need to get this book done ASAP because publication should coincide with the dates when the Alaska State Fair would normally take place.

Add to this, I will be taking off for Fairbanks and the first leg of my trip June 18, 2020. This doesn’t give me much time to finish the book. And the horses will continue to need exercise.

I guess I’m just going to need to do a better job of organizing the time I have left, which is the time that the time thief left me with. I’ll divide my time between bookmarking the journals from the reject notices and doing interviews for “Forks” and preparing for my trip. Oh yeah, and finishing the May agility videos. Fortunately, Hrimmi did quite well today in the video, and Tyra did well in practice. Raudi and I need to do some remedial work together.

Maybe this sense of having less time has to do with the fact that I’m attempting to do so much. Seems odd though, I don’t think that I’m doing any more than usual.

Next: 144. 5/24/20: Under the Weather and Looking Up