I spent the day cleaning. In part, I’m making up for slovenly NaNoWriMovember ways, but I’m also getting ready to start the new projects: Vocab Fun 1st grade puzzles and 5th grade puzzles. Not full books, just the puzzle sections. Cleaning, organizing, and clearing off my desk (and the couch) seems to clean the clutter out of my brain as well, preparing it to focus, enabling it to function at its best.

So I put this away. That’s the 6th grade book. I print the activities to proof them. As much as I try to reduce paper consumption, I find it essential to print puzzles and solve them by hand as readers are meant to do. Shortcuts lead to screw ups.

Except for the graph paper, it’s all scrap paper. I collect things that come in the mail, old business invoices, etc. And I still have scrap paper my mother and father brought home from office and school in the early days when I had to scrounge for scrap paper.

I’ll keep this until the book is actually printed, but then I’ll get rid of it. We should have our wood stove installed by then, and it will make good fire-starter.

Now let’s get busy on those 1st grade puzzles, eh?