As her pregnancy reaches her final months, Marathon Girl has difficulty falling to sleep. To help, I've been reading short stories by Ethan Canin
or Tobias Wolff to Marathon Girl the last few evenings. They've been fun to read and, if we're not too tired, talk about it as we drift off to sleep. I haven't read some of these stories in years and it's interesting how my thoughts about them or the characters has changed as I've grown older. Some stories I like more, some less. And I enjoy having someone to talk too about them. Marathon Girl has wonderful insight on them. I enjoy talking with her about them when we're done and letting our words fill the dark room. In my world, talking about a story we've just read is one of the best ways to fall asleep.
Her perspective has been good for my book too. The other night, before we read the short story Hunters in the Snow, Marathon Girl looked over the first few paragraphs of a chapter I've been struggling with. She was able to help me smooth out some transitions and improve it quite a bit. Until recently, I've never knew she had such good editing skills. She has a natural way of making sure things events are structured in a logical way -- something I struggle with. I only wish I would have brought her into the book earlier. It would have saved me quite a bit of rewriting.
What else can I say?
Marathon Girl is amazing.
I'm the luckiest guy in the world.