Today meandered
Today I cleaned the kitchen. I fed the children. I did the accounting for 1 family and 2 businesses. I mailed a contract. Filled a schlock book order. Discussed layout for a picture book. Wrote over 1000 words. Washed 4 loads of laundry. and researched possible short story markets. Why is it that I feel like I didn’t get enough done?
I do have some niggling guilt because I didn’t require all the kids to do all of their assigned chores. Also I did not fold all of that laundry that I washed.
Summer days are long. I keep looking at the clock and thinking “Is it really only 2 pm?” Then I wonder what I am going to do with the rest of my day. I keep wondering that, until I look at the clock and think “Gah! How did it get to be 9pm? I’ve got to get these kids into bed!” These long afternoons are theoretically luxurious, but in real life they’re not. It is hard for me to revel in idleness when I have to get up every two minutes to mediate a quarrel.
I need to schedule some time for myself. During the school year I get breaks from the kids because they’re at school for large portions of the day. During the summer I have to schedule time to dump them in someone else’s care so that I can run off to find my fleeing sanity.
The good news from today is that I received a contract and payment for the short story I sold. I now have money to spend on important writerly expenses. Things like books, or envelopes, or new clothes to wear to conventions. But most of the money I intend to set aside because I am saving up to buy my very own shiny new laptop computer. The saving up is going to take awhile because short stories just don’t pay very well. They particularly don’t buy very much when you only have one sale. Hence the market research today.