Have you ever had a day when everything seems to be in sync? I’m having one of those days today, and it’s absolute perfection.

I woke up with a smile on my face, edits arrived today that were easy to deal with and were sent back within minutes, an editor e-mailed with ideas that I can fit into my schedule right after I come back from my break, one of my best friends called with some great news, and a check that’s been due for weeks just arrived. Can’t complain.

I don’t have much work-related news to report because I’ve been pulled in a dozen different directions and have been a bit scattered lately. Two things of note though: one, you’ll find me in the masthead of this month’s Elle India (and every month from here on out), and two, my latest piece on Delhi’s wastepickers appears in the February issue of The Caravan magazine and has been getting some wonderful feedback. You can read “The Treasure of Trash” by following this link.

In personal news, I’m being forced to do the thing I detest most: shopping. The other day, I had four hours to kill while I was waiting for my mother to finish work, and she practically shoved a credit card in my hand and pushed me towards the biggest mall in the city with the orders to buy “something, anything.” While I was trapped there for those four hours, I did what any sane person in my position would have done: I sat on a bench and finished my novel. Did I mention I hate shopping?

I’ve been meaning to post regularly on the blog, but I don’t want to write for the heck of it, and these days, I feel like I don’t have much to say about the freelancing world. Today, after ages, I woke up with a need to write, to journal if need be, and maybe even do a bit of work. I’ve been moaning about being stressed and maybe even taking an extended break, but this morning, I missed work so badly, I almost sent out a pitch for a timely two-day story. But I know I can’t do justice to work this week, so for now, I’ll make peace by trying to post often.

Where have you been published lately?

I’ve been meaning to blog for over a week now, and let you know that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, but I guess I’ve been avoiding this activity as well.

I haven’t been on holiday, not really. But in January, I was overworked, stressed beyond belief, and heading steadily towards a meltdown. I was getting no joy from work, I was getting no joy from meeting people, and this is when I realized there was a problem– no joy at all from reading. That’s never happened before. Ever.

Anyway, having overworked myself into a frenzy, I knew I needed a break soon or I was going to end up in a puddle on the floor soon or most likely, since my timing is pretty bad– on the day of my wedding. I’ve spent the better part of January and February finishing up everything, so that I can actually enjoy the time I’ll be taking off in March instead of worrying about things that are out of my control.

In between finishing work, I’ve been taking it easy. I’ve been re-reading books I love (Little Women is my comfort reading), watching all the Oscar-nominated movies (An Education is my favorite), and have been adopted by puppies. I’m back at my parents place until the wedding, and one of the street dogs gave birth to six puppies earlier this year. My parents and I have been feeding them, and so now the four that survived the cold winter have made this their unofficial home. They squeeze in through the gate, make themselves comfortable anywhere they like, and much to my mother’s dismay, jump all over her potted plants. When scolded, they sit there with their tails wagging and a what-did-I-do-expression that melts all hearts.

At night, when it’s cold outside, they go under the car where it’s warm and sleep there, until my mother gets up in the morning to go to work. Then they chase after the car, or if we leave to go to the market on foot, walk us to the end of the road. Yesterday, my parents visited a neighbor’s house and one of the puppies walked them to the neighbor’s house, and then stood outside waiting until they were ready to return.

I’ve been away from my e-mail for a while, but I’m playing catch-up. And I’m back to blogging, so expect to hear from me again soon.

So, how’ve you been?