It is 7:49 a.m., an hour after I woke up, and I haven't done crap. It's raining out, and it would be the first day my students are at school if I were going to school this year. I am so confused. Of course I'm thrilled to be home with my daughter for a year, but it is completely weird not to go to work. I am a very driven person, and when the motion stops, I kind of stop. Not that the motion can stop with a 22 month-old. When she's around and awake, all is good. She peed in her little potty last night for the first time. While holding a picture of The Monkees. That kind of good. But when was the last time I didn't go to school after the summer ended? Um, never, right? I mean, there was the time pre-school, but I don't remember that. So this is completely weird. I'd love to talk to some of my fellow authors who write full time and ask them how they make their days meaningful. I should be working on the GET WELL SOON sequel right now, since this is my writing time. But I don't feel like it today. No worries--as I said, I'm driven, and I don't ever NOT write. I just don't feel in the mood right now, so if I did write it would just suck.
Anyone out there reading my blog work from home? How do you not get in a rut? Because Chicago winter is coming, I can feel it. That means cold and dark and trapped. When I look at my daughter, of course I made the right decision. But now, in the grayness of a rainy morning, I'm scared at what the future of this year may bring.
Maybe it will all be OK if we go out and buy some galoshes...
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6 comments:
HI Julie,
I am an author who is still a teacher. I think you should NOT write today. Just really embrace the feeling of being home. Tomorrow, start with your new writing schedule. (I know you've been home all summer, but it's not the same and not having to go back!)
I find I am far more productive when I have to go to work because I guess I stink at time management....but I know there are authors out there who know how to do it right.
Good Luck! And you are so fortunate to have this time with your little one.
Shelley
It's two-thirty here in England, I'm sitting in my bathrobe having failed to do anything so far today except blog and watch reruns of The Gilmore Girls. How do people avoid getting in a rut? I have no blooming idea!
Thank goodness our new term begins on Monday and I can go back to work. I get far more done when I working full time.
Don't stress though, you're not going to look back on these years with your daughter and wish you'd been more driven. I think it's one of the great tragedies of the modern western lifestyle that most women aren't able to afford to take time off work to be with their children- if they want to.
I'm not telling you to feel guilty that you do have this opportunity, just to enjoy it and take the pressure of yourself.
I work from home and it can definitely take some time to used to the schedule. I left work six years ago to become a full-time author. The first few months were tough, but having a routine and schedule helps.
Setting daily goals on the writing helps. (ie. finish this chapter today, etc). Even if you don't accomplish them, having a daily to-do list is one good way I have making sure I don't sit around doing nothing all day.
I've course, I don't have 22 month old Monkees lover in my house to disrupt that schedule, but if I did, best be sure we'd be listening to a lot of Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, I'll tell you that right now.
All wonderful advice! Yet no one mentioned the lure of the snack... How does one also not gain 800 pounds when working from home?
And Brian- PAC&J is my favorite record!
I stayed home with my boys for 6 years and it does take some time to adjust to a new routine. Sometimes just taking a trip to the grocery store or the library will help get you out of a funk. As far as the lure of the snack goes, I have to make myself not buy junk. If I did I would be as bug as a house.
I have friends who own their own small business. They used to work out of their house, but found that they got nothing done. So they rented a small office space very close to their house and now they're really successful. We're so conditioned to think that work equals a separate place. Sometimes, even if it costs a couple hundred a month, we can't change the way we've been trained since birth.
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