In Fairbanks today there’s a marathon, it’s been underway since half an hour before I started writing this actually. It’s a well known event here in Alaska. This year there’s more to it. Several runners, including some colleagues and friends are running the race to raise awareness and research funding for Usher Syndrome. I’ve been doing my little part help via social media. Today, being race day, is also Usher Syndrome Awareness day. I’m not personally effected by it, only personally know one person who is, but I can lend a hand here, it’s just one little piece and in order to make something big, you’ve got to have those little parts.

I didn’t make it up there to cheer everyone on. That would have been great, but for various and sundry it wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I’ll be cheering them all on in the virtual universe. If you have a minute, take a look a their website, consider sharing it with others you know. Not everyone has the resources to donate, but anyone can send out the call to say: Hey – did you ever hear about this? For an effort like this one, that’s quite as important as the fund raising. One goal is to reach out to folks and connect with those who do have resources to donate. So, anyhow, that’s my plug.

I bet you’re asking what the hell building a duck coop has to do with writing. Nothing. But it has a lot to do with not writing. In case you’re wondering this is another one of those complainy posts about not having enough time. It’s true though, I don’t, and it doesn’t have anything to do with running every night for the own the equinox challenge this month to raise awareness for usher syndrome (sorry, I gotta plug this, people should know about it, and of course if you can contribute, that’d be great too.) Running is a small part of my day, and I’m glad to be doing it.

The bigger time-sink at the moment is correcting the horrible-awful job I did building the duck-coop the first time. It’s too small, the roof is collapsing and you can’t easily get in to clean it. It’s got to happen because I really don’t want to have another morning waking up to “all the ducks are dead, a dog got them, your son found them and is inconsolable.” That happened last year, but I didn’t have the resources to rebuild the duck house then. I do now.

I’ve got 2 real productive days for me in the week, one of which is devoted to preparing for the next week, and the other day is largely relegated to family stuff – mostly goofing off in whatever manner we’ve obligated ourselves to. So, where does writing fit in? I’m not sure right now. In that over-committed weekend I’m managing to carve out hours to build the duck-house, but not much else. I’m usually pretty good about writing it the evenings, but the last few weeks I’ve been tired and distracted – my version of writer’s block. I know that if I ever want to seem my stuff published I’m going to have to focus and actually spend the time, but it’s a fight even for someone like me who doesn’t do anything but work sometimes. For now though, I’m off to run some errands and gather supplies for this weekend’s crack at the coop. Then, of course, there’s the running.

The first in the series is out – check it out over at Channillo.com http://channillo.com/series/wine-bottles-and-broomsticks/ There will be another installment in a few weeks.