Funny thing about writing for a living. To make any money at it, you actually have to spent most of your time sitting in front of a keyboard, writing.
Earning a living as a writer has been my dream since I was a teenager. I don’t know why the actual logistics of it never really crossed my mind. The part where I’d be sitting at a desk all day as my body slowly turned to mush? Somehow that was never part of the fantasy.
When we got back from our holiday trip to California, the combination of my return to the sedentary writer’s life and the feast-and-famine nature of the kind of writing I was doing drove me to get a part-time job that I knew would keep me on my feet and running around for a few hours a day in exchange for a steady paycheck. The first week or two of that really made me realize how out-of-shape I had let myself become. So much pain. But then my body toughened back up, and the extra flab started to come off. Seriously, I haven’t lost this much weight this quickly since my marriage ended and I couldn’t keep food down for like two months. I think manual labor is seriously underrated.
What really surprised me, though, is how much I enjoy the job. The combination of physical exertion, mental stimulation and social interaction makes me happy in a way that I did not expect. A few weeks after I hired on, I accepted a transition to a full-time position with more responsibility. I haven’t done any paid writing in weeks, and I don’t miss it. Bonus: my novel is progressing in leaps and bounds now that my wordsmithing energy isn’t being siphoned off into the other stuff.
Another nice thing about a regular-paycheck job is that it offers a certain reassurance to prospective landlords. The kids and I have finally relocated to our own apartment!
Life tip: If you ever move from a largish house into a smallish apartment, spend a few interim months living in someone else’s home. That little apartment will look positively spacious, trust me.
The best part about being able to stay with friends while we acclimated to DFW is that when the time came to start looking for an apartment, we knew exactly which area we wanted to move to. We are right where we want to be, or as close as we can get without moving Elizabeth out of her preferred high school. Luke had to switch to a different junior high, but he’s okay with that. He likes his new school.
Fun extra: there is a church up the street from our apartment with a full carillon that chimes on the hour:
I can just hear it if the windows are open, so it’s not intrusive. I like it, it’s a pretty sound.
The Metroplex is nice and green again, finally. Winter is kind of bleak here, which is one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging much. It’s not really a photogenic place in the winter.
I was really enjoying how wild and overgrown Mahogany’s stretch of river trail is getting…
…until I lost my phone out there in the middle of a ride. Oops.
When the kids got home from school we went on a search-and-rescue mission that really only succeeded because Elizabeth kept calling my phone with hers until we heard it ring.
Let’s see, what else? I have plans to create a small kitchen garden in containers on our apartment’s balcony. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can grow here.
And now I think I’m all caught up!
An Invincible Summer 