Yes, I'm back, in the middle of adapting to a "new normal" and having mostly unpacked the library after a rather strenuous move (350+ boxes of books and 44 bookcases; last night we purchased three new bookcases as well -- the pantry is devoted to cookbooks and foodie books, while the linen closet is devoted to Fred's Emily Dickinson collection -- what do you expect when you give us all those shelves?!). My legal workload has more than doubled since last we spoke here, which has caused my non-legal writing to take not just the backseat, but to be clinging to the bumper as the car hurtles down the road at speeds well over the limit. I'm writing an enormous amount; it's just none of it been anything but briefs and opinion letters.

But I made a return to reviewing on Sunday, and my inner book reviewer was so thrilled that I managed to complete three book reviews, for a total of 2,579 words. Yesterday I wrote a short review for the San Francisco / Sacramento Book Review, totting up another 199 words (their limit is 200 words; the editing was fairly dramatic). I'm planning to force the "new normal" to include a book review every day until my pile of books awaiting reviews diminishes to nothing. Let's see if I can accomplish that despite having relatively short deadlines for an opinion letter, a response to a petition for writ of mandate, a response to a motion for summary judgment, interrogatories and answers to interrogatories and much, much more before leaving for a short vacation in Las Vegas in mid-August. (Yes, we go to Vegas in August. We pretty much stay indoors unless we're in the pool. The point is to eat, read and sleep, recovering from a very difficult few months.)

I wrote a bit here and there during this time, and I'll be providing links to my columns and reviews posted elsewhere. But I pretty much abandoned my 250 word/day goal for a bit there. Sometimes you have to make allowances. But my allowance has just run out, and it's time to get back to work.