Working at home has a lot of advantages. It means I have a flexible schedule for when the boys need to get to practices or appointments. It means I don’t have to put on real clothes (or shower or brush my teeth), although I do, every day.
But it also has a downside. Right now, as I go through training, all my time is focused on work. For the past month or so, I’ve worked way past 40 hours. My evenings are work, and so are my weekends. I haven’t had much of a life away from computer. I certainly haven’t had any energy (or time) to write.
It’s been really tough. One of the biggest downsides to working at home is that you’re never away from work. I don’t leave an office building and leave my work behind. It’s always there, waiting for me.
That, of course, is the challenge working at home—finding that balance between life and work. Sadly, there hasn’t been a balance at all recently. The scales are definitely tipped in favor of work. However, I’ve been assured by several different people that once I’m done with training, I will be able to have a life again. I hope so. I can’t keep going like this. I’m exhausted.
When I get this tired, I fall into despair. I feel like nothing’s ever going to change and I’m going to be miserable forever. It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when I’m in this mood. And I’m sure it’s there, it’s just waaaaaaaaay out in the distance. All I can do is take it day to day, so that’s what I’m going to do.
Despite the fact that I haven’t had a moment to put words onto paper (with the exception of a few blog posts), I have been making progress with some of my writing. For example, my grandfather-in-law’s biography has been sent to an editor, and I’m supposed to get edits back the first week of September.
I’ve decided that I’m going to self-publish that book. I’ve sent it to multiple publishers, and none of them are interested. Not a biggie. I totally understand. I could keep sending out queries and hoping someone eventually decides to pick it up, but my grandfather-in-law is 91. My husband and I talked about it, and we figured that getting the book out sooner rather than later is probably the best plan. I will keep you updated when it’s available.
I’m expecting Humanity’s Hope to come back from the editor any day now. I emailed it at the beginning of August. From there, I have no idea what the timeline looks like, but it will be one step closer. I’m pretty excited about that. Maybe it will encourage me to get to work on the sequel—assuming I can find time and keep my eyes open.
