Bizarro Erica
Yeah.
I'm alive.
I have had to remind myself that this really IS the career I want the past week or so. It started with agreeing to do the James River Writers Conference. It was a ball, and I loved my panels. I got to sit on a panel with her, as well as her. I met poets. I ate salsa. I drank margaritas. I raced back and forth twice a day from the city to my house to feed my kids, walk dogs, and generally try to fulfill my role as Mom--as well as being that author-lady. Really, it's like Bizarro Erica. Those two worlds--author and Mom--really are NOT destined to meet.
My freelance life, which generally paces along as a sideshow to my writing life, instead exploded about two months ago with more work than a human being can handle. This is a good thing, as there are braces to come this winter, my van needs tires, and all the rest of that Mom stuff. As well as the perpectually leaky roof.
AND THEN, I got my rewrite notes to my next TWO releases (Magickeepers III from Jabberwocky, and Illuminated from Penguin) due . . . wait for it . . . within seven days of each other--and that was WITH begging for time on my deadlines. Again . . . Bizarro World. Those two deadlines should never have intersected like that.
Add the usual crap (health stuff), the unusual stuff (had my best friend visit for a week), and the insane stuff (it is T-minus 30 days and COUNTING until my parents arrive for--wait for it--a couple of MONTHS . . . not weeks. Months.). My oldest daughter moved out to her own apartment. I need to order new bedroom furniture so my parents have someplace to SLEEP when they come (oldest took her bed and dresser). And you have a recipe for insanity, people.
But I'm back. And so my question is this . . . .
What two worlds should not collide in your universe? And just how many plates can I spin?
21 comments:
They are. I blame it on fall, although maybe not. With one kid in cross country and the other in competitive marching band, for which both Leanne & I are mucho involved, it's been absolutely nuts. Example: Tuesday, quit work early to catch cross country meet, then grab pizza and eat with father-in-law who came to see the meet, then head off to band booster meeting, and don't get home until 9:10. Wednesday was a day off from the madness, but yesterday was the parent-teachers conference for my oldest, and Leanne set up a table to do a quilt raffle for band boosters while I visited the teachers, then home for guitar lessons, which after talking about 10 minutes with our teacher, decided to cancel mine--like I'd had time to practice. This weekend? FOotball game tonight, mother's memorial service all day tomorrow (having family & friends back to house afterward). Next weekend? Weekend from hell. Friday football game, Saturday marching band competition (All day, from about 10:00 AM to about 9:00 PM), and on Sunday a karate workshop in the middle of the state 2 hours from home, we we'll leave 10:30 or so and get back at 6:00 or so.
And yeah, somewhere in there I've got deadlines, etc.
Mark:
Your life sounds like mine--parallel universes. And unfortunately, I am just one person/parent with no clone in sight. :-(
Can I trade my three twelve-hour shifts at the hospital every week for some guitar lessons and karate workshops and writer's conferences?
You guys are just having too much fun. ;)
Jude:
I might kill a patient or two, but yeah. You also get Dynamo Boy, the two dogs, and Carpool Hell. :-)
Jude--trying to. It's a full life, that's for sure. Did that hospital thing for 18 years. I'm done.
You need a personal assistant. Srsly.
I'm at Bouchercon with my family in tow. 730 am coffee date with Peter Dudley. Sleeping family. Oh, and Stuart is here so we're trying to make time to hangout too. Nuff said.
Stephen:
I keep waiting for you to come from Germany. :-)
Starbucks:
Have fun!!!!
Stephen as PA? I think he'd be great at letting you know when you're running behind and where you're supposed to be racing off to next. At least you wouldn't have to think while you're wearing yourself out.
Having lots of life here, too. Seems to be going around. We're finally slowing down though (I think).
My colliding lives have nothing to do with my work. My ex-husband's widow's ex-husband is the new football coach at my daughter's school. I'm dating a man with the same name as my ex whose ex has the same name as my ex's widow.
No wonder I escape to the internet.
Sarah:
He would be great--if we stopped gabbing long enough to work. And then there's that Scrabble issue . . . .
:-)
Manuals, guides, regulations and procedures should never be generated and/or analyzed on the same keyboard used for creative writing...there's just something SO wrong about that.
Morgana:
LOVE IT!! :-)
Me: Passionate bomb of creativity who hates to sensor himself, and considers himself spiritual, not religious.
Family: Mostly religious nuts who think the world is going to end any day now and that Glen Beck is Jesus 2.0
Oh, the sparkly things those two compounds will produce when they are finally mixed and brought to a full boil.
P.S. I was getting a little worried that the mothership had retrived you. Glad things are okay.
JT:
Missed you, Dude. :-)
So . . . my dad is an atheist and my mom a VERY lapsed Catholic. That GOD for that. That never entered into our relationship--though oddly, my dad likes all my kids being baptized "just in case" (go figure). As for moi? I've given up ENTIRELY on organized religion in any form. Humans just can't get it right, and the results are so often ugly and bastardized. I have pulled an Anne Rice.
I think a lot of people can learn a little something from Anne Rice, she's a wise lady.
Much like someone else I know ;)
Good to hear from you. As the years have gone by, I've tried to reduce the number of worlds I live in.
At the same time, I look back to when I was pulled a lot of ways with good memories.
To everything there is a season, I guess.
Joe:
This was TOO busy--even for me (I generally like living a full life). I am looking forward to being a homebody for a bit.
I'm so glad you're still hanging in there. I worry when you disappear for too long.
My writing and "regular" worlds don't collide too often, but every now and then a writer friend and real-world friend connect and that's just odd. Awesome, but odd.
Melanie:
LOL! :-)
Post a Comment