I received good — though puzzling — health news (by letter, no less) at the start of the week. While the issue remains unexplained, it's now lessened a bit, so I suppose I'll simply have to be patient... These results somewhat eased the stress I've been under for a while.
Speaking of stress, I sent off translation project pitches for two different books to four publishers! To be perfectly honest, I don't expect any of them to meet with a positive response, but I can't help being a little proud of myself for achieving the goal of completing this task by the end of the month. I sincerely thought that I'd lose either my motivation or my bottle. Now I just need to stop being terrified of checking my emails! (I'm joking. Barely.)
I didn't get to read much, but I did find out why T. Kingfisher is such a massively popular writer by listening to Nettle & Bone. I never imagined a fairytale could be so funny! Admittedly, this tale breaks both the conventional damsel-in-distress mould and the stereotype of a beautiful young heroine with a keen intuition and quick deductive powers. In this case, it's a ragtag band of misfits made up of an almost-nun, a bone dog, an irascible Dust Wife who speaks to the dead, her demon-possessed chicken, an ex-knight, and a doddering godmother with doubtful abilities that attempts to rescue the princess from her cruel fate. The dialogues are brilliant, and I adored the character of the Dust Wife. One more author whose works I'm adding to my reading list!
I'm not sure "ConventTube" is a thing, but that's what I call the phenomenon of the many, many YouTube videos that illustrate the daily life of nuns. There are more out there than one might think and, as a help to relaxation, I've been watching quite a few of them. I strongly feel the appeal of living retired from the world, in quietness and contemplation. Unfortunately, the whole faith aspect would get in the way, since I'm a staunch atheist and despise hypocrisy. Also, I have no problem with the inner hierarchical structure of a community, but the idea of a man holding a position of authority over a closed group of women (i.e., a priest being required to celebrate mass) really irks me. Come to think of it, my daily life does have similarities with that of a nun...