The last week and a half has been one of those up-and-down periods for me. One reason is that I’m finishing up my period, so the last ten days have been all about hormones, mood swings, and sweet-and-salty cravings. Beyond that, I’ve had some real stresses and some real joys.
Stressor 1: I accepted a freelance editing job, which I’m enjoying but which I charged waaaay too little for given that it is long (two manuscripts totaling 35,000 words).
Stressor 2: It’s taken me longer than expected to get the hang of my PDA. Forty-five pages into the first doc, I’m finally feeling some of that second-nature element with the device kicking in.
Stressor 3: Even though I’m making faster progress on the job, I’m still way behind schedule. My original goal was to finish both manuscripts by July 1, with the option of notifying my contact by June 15 if the second one would be delayed. I decided this weekend that I’ll have to contact him to give myself an extra month on the second doc.
Stressor 4: I realize I’ve got some manuscript deadlines coming up for my own work (poetry book contest postage dates), and I still have a couple of poems pending.
Stressor 5: Because of the state budget crisis and the Republican tendency to support big business and not much else, part-time teaching positions at my university will be scarce, so odds are, I won’t be doing much of that next year.
Stressor 6/Joy 1: I got the results of my interpreting exam, the one that involved exotic yoga positions as memory aids. I did not pass (surprise, surprise), but I did incredibly well given my horrendous performance. Each exam has eight or nine scoring areas. I passed at least six per exam, and most of my fails were borderline fails.
Joy 2: I decided to put more energy into posting pictures of my finished objects on my blog, and I bought more yarn to celebrate that decision.
Joy 3: Amid all the stress, someone lent me a nice relaxing book that made me laugh. It also put Janet Evanovich back into my good graces because I enjoyed the book and because I liked her comments on writing about ordinary heroes (made in an interview at the end of the recording). Note to self: avoid J. E.’s romance fiction at all cost.
Joy 4: Two friends and I took a trip to the beach over the weekend. We left Friday afternoon, returned Saturday night, and had a great time. I even met a knitting buddy.
Joy 5: I got some ideas for writing material, and I confirmed some other material I’ve already used.
I’m finally feeling myself again now that the hormones have leveled out. It helps that I’ve decided to delay the second editing manuscript in order to give myself time to work on my own stuff. For a change, I’m not at all bothered by the relative paucity of appointments (paying jobs) for the month of June.
Puntitas reads _Ten on Top_ by J. Evanovich.
