Wrapping Up The Week

/

This is a week of tying up loose ends. I'm finally (finally!) getting around to sending out long past due invoices in an effort to get all monies in I'm owed before the New Year. I'm tying off small projects as I prepare to hit a big one Monday monring with full steam. The house is clean, Blair's sister and our nephew arrive this afternoon for Thanksgiving, and I have forbidden my cold to get any worse.

Blair and I have 4-5 small household/finance projects that need to be dealt with this weekend. And--yuck, yuck, yuck--we'll pull the holiday decorations out this weekend and get the tree up and house decorated. (I'd be fine sticking a candy cane on a houseplant and calling it a day. Blair, not so much.) It's time to write the holiday newsleter and start thinking about goals/dreams for 2009. I can't be expected to enter the New Year without a LIST now, can I?

So today is about inovices, e-mail, yoga, a quick treadmill run, and clearing off my desk. (Are matches and kindling an option?) Notice that WRITING is not listed in that to-do list. Monday will kick off a month of hard-core writing days. I have a book that needs to be finished and sent out for editing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Travel safe.

Working Gal

/

I'm a working girl this week! A friend is on vacation and his employer needed someone to fill in for him for the week. Since I write for the employer at times and somewhat know their business, I volunteered. So this week I'm doing the work thing, 10-4. Which makes for an interesting day. Since I still have my work to do, I'm getting up at 5 to put a few hours in on the laptop before I drive to Greensboro. Then work 10-4. (And they are wonderful, flexible people. If there's a slow spot, I can check my e-mail, read, or do some project writing.) Then I'm running 3 evenings this week and not getting home until 8ish. I told myself before the week began that I'd have to do some nighttime writing, but so far that's not happening. I'd rather go to bed early and get up at 3, if need be, versus work at night. Don't like it--at least not after a full day.

If I'd known a few weeks ago when I agreed to this how busy my schedule would be this week, I probably would have passed on it. But as it is, it's kind of fun. There's been enough to keep me busy but not swamped these last two days and I'm starting to feel like I know what I'm doing. The hardest part for me is the phone. I turn my phones off or ignore them when I'm writing and just return calls later from voicemail. Now I'm responsible for answering the phone and it takes about 3 rings for me to remember, "Oh! That's me!"

This week is also a much needed reminder of HOW MUCH I LIKE WORKING FOR MYSELF, WORKING FROM HOME, AND HAVING A FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE. I know I have it good, but it never hurts to be reminded of that fact. People--I have it good. 

I'm typing this in a Panera, checking e-mail before I change clothes and head out to my running group. We're running Fartlek tonight, which is the Swedish word for "speed play." You pick an object in the distance and run to it as fast as you can, then recover. Then run fast for another minute, recover. I've read about it but never actually tried it. I'm curious to see how it goes.

Maybe I'll report on that in the blog at 5 am tomorrow...

Cheers,

Dena

Pushing the Limit

/

I accepted a couple of magazine assignments a few weeks ago and immediately put them on the back burner in order to work on the book proposal that's been occupying my time. Then I left town for the reunion and have spent the last two days playing catch-up. Which is why I almost fainted this morning when I realized I have less than 2 weeks to get the interviews I need and get these puppies written. 

One article requires I interview 5-6 different people. Ideally, I wanted them all together to do a group interview but I was doubtful. What were the chances I could gather 6 busy individuals on the same day, at the same time, with less than a weeks notice?

Strong, apparently. Every single one was free at the day and time I proposed and all are eager to meet. After hanging up the phone with the last person to confirm I turned to my cat, Lucy. "God loves me," I informed her.

The second article is about the Chinqua Penn winery. I called and spoke with the marketing director who suggested I speak with their wine maker next week at a wine tasting event. Sigh. Sometimes as a writer, we're just called upon to make these sacrifices in life. I told her I'd be there.

I'm only leaving myself a few days to write the articles, but they are not complex topics and if I come straight back from either event and start writing, I usually find that's when the images and words flow most readily. It's a struggle though, as writing is usually the last thing I feel like doing after an interview. But I'm just so excited that these interviews came together so quickly, I don't mind a bit. I'll probably throw myself into a writing coma by the end of next week.

Always something to look forward to. That, and the wine...  ;)