March Break Madness

I have a love/hate thing with March Break. Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons:

Pros:

• I work in the education system, so I get to enjoy a week off. It’s a week off without pay, but hey, it’s still a week off.
• That means more time to write and hopefully even more time to write.
• My children also have the week off, and it’s an opportunity to spend some quality time with them.
• I get to sleep in. YAY!
• I get to catch up on some reading.

Cons:

• My children also have the week off, and there is lots of distraction to keep me from my writing.
• I sleep in too late and lose a lot of valuable time.
• I stay up late reading – hence the sleeping in part.
• There is pressure to attend to long-neglected chores – cleaning out closets, going through piles of paperwork, organizing computer files, etc.

I’m sure there are lots of other things I could add to either pro/con section, but you catch my drift. It’s definitely a week of give and take. So I spent a whole day with the girls at the mall, and I met a friend for coffee one night, and that was great! I also cleaned out two closets and filled a garbage bag of shoes and another of coats to donate.  I finished reading a couple of great books.  I wasted a lot of time on Zombie Farm and Twitter, and a little less time on Facebook.

But I did get some writing done — or at least revised three chapters. And if I don’t waste too much time here, I might even be able to get to Chapter 13!  So as much as I got productive with my closets and had a good time with family and friends, I also squeezed in some time to write. As much as it would be great to disappear all week, I compromised.  Maybe it wasn’t madness after all.

OLA SuperConference and Writing

Last week I had the double-treat of attending OLA SuperConference wearing two different hats.  Wearing my librarian hat, I got to learn some wonderful new things about libraries and librarianship, and I got to be a total fan of the writers in attendance — getting books, getting autographs, and gushing over their talents.  Wearing my own writer’s hat, I got to meet up with my other writer friends, exchange updates, and of course get them to autograph copies of their newly-published books and gush over their talents.

I’m so privileged to count these people as my friends, and as we sat down to a late lunch, it still felt surreal to me, being among such a talented bunch when I still haven’t completed a manuscript or achieved the ultimate goal of getting my work published and being a “real writer.”  They in turn, have been encouraging and and supportive, and I so appreciate their vote of confidence. As usual, I struggle with esteem issues and worry about reaching my own goals.  But they are always there to remind me of their own struggles and their own worries, and insist we aren’t that much different.  I just need to get off my butt and write!

So today I pulled out my Mac and tackled a couple of chapters.  They were already written and in need of revisions, but I am moving forward and hopefully it won’t be long before I get to where I left off and continue the thread of the story.  Just keep pushing me, friends.  I don’t know if I can make it any other way!