I went back to writing Thrilled! last night and my dreams took a vivid, explosive turn. Lush, rolling hills. An ocean full of glowing sea anemones. The winding, flowery trail of a mountain marathon. Lots of women in my dreams but I can’t recall exactly what they were doing.

Yesterday it felt like Spring, probably because the weather is crisp and I’m suddenly extremely busy at work. Among lots of other small projects, I’ve been called upon to work on a sensitive, internal project. Our Content Director complained yesterday that he originally wanted our Senior Writer for it (he’s an ex-Imagineer and brilliant guy all around). My manager told the Director, “Too bad! You get a Maria. She’s awesome.” (I have a good boss, no? The Director threw up his hands and said, “It’s cool. I’ll take a Maria.”) It’s nothing you guys will be able to see but it feels really good to jump in and help strengthen an important project. While not life-changing by any means, it’s something that I can clearly see will make lots of people very happy.

What’s important, though, is that I’m starting to feel like the fiction is moving forward, which is really great after working so hard on that proposal. It’s such a weird thing. I decided to heed my agent’s warning not to work too hard on it and I turned it in.

Now to Uncle Walt’s for a different kind of marathon.