MrsHughey.com

The 100s

This is my 100th entry on my web site. I started them before we moved to the UK, so it's not my 100th since coming to Oxford, but it's still a milestone.

Last night while Andrew was at a meeting ::cough, playing D&D, cough, cough:: I went to Hertford library and worked on the novel. I wrote past page 100. I'm on 102 now. I was intensely excited looking at the numbers on the bottom of my screen after I was finished writing. 102! Amazing. It's going well and seems to have gotten to that point where the story would really engage the reader - like they would be involved with what's going on. A nice feeling, although I am wary of celebrating such things because I don't want to get complacent. A lot of hard work lies ahead. But it doesn't feel like work.

As for the site, 100 feels good. Not all of the entries were fantastic, sure, but it's still cool to have written that many. There are still a few I've written and never put up, or put on the server but never made public. There are some which surprised me with how much response they elicited, and several for which I expected a big response and got none.

I have definitely started to lose my ability to judge things in Oxford impartially. I've gotten used to a lot of things and I'm less of a tourist than I was. I hope I'll still be able to bring you the Oxford Outsider's Guide with frequency and accuracy. I still have an OOG about English boobs and bums (I wrote it in like November - guess I should post it some time!) and a big list of ideas, but it seems my well of ideas is never dry, so I haven't added many entries to the Guide lately.

Oxford is still interesting. It's definitely a unique place to live, especially as a person who has already been out in the "real world" for a while. It's like going back to being 19 in many ways, but in other ways it's like going back to the 16th century!

Being a novelist is fantastic. It's what I have wanted to do since I was very young. I adore it. It is my calling.

But the "everyday life" parts of Oxford are definitely dominant now. Running errands, doing chores, and other daily tasks and commitments take up more of my time than aweing at the architecture these days. I rarely think about the loveliness of the buildings where I work, eat and live every day. In some ways, though, that's good. I feel at home at Hertford. We have a nice group of friends and, for the first time in MY life, I'm popular.

But a lot hasn't changed since we first arrived in the UK. I still miss the same things (kitties and teaching the most - we talk to our families too often to feel they're far away). I still have trouble understanding some accents. I still get sticker shock when I go to the store. I still think my husband is the smartest guy in the world.

There's just a balance I think everybody has to work to achieve in life. There are many balances, really. But one is certainly the balance between your dreams and your everyday needs/comforts. It's always good to challenge yourself, to follow your dreams, but contentment is also found in familiarity. I'm still working on striking the balance, and there are days when I'm lost in Binder Clip Land and days where I never even go there because I'm so busy doing mundane errands.

Oxford is certainly a unique place to try to strike that balance between dreams and reality. It's so surreal at times. As I walk around town, whether in a daze or in "list mode" on the way to the store, I often hear the whispers of those who came here before me. That feeling of historical weight, of literary ghosts, has never subsided for me in Oxford. With all the reading and writing I do, I can't help but remember how many have left Oxford to succeed in literature, and how many have come here to teach after their success. It's both comforting and intimidating, and it is something I never lose sight of. I like to imagine that one day Oxford's students will hear my voice whispering to them.

Posted by Erin at February 21, 2003 04:37 PM