It’s that time again! Where is my book, where is my life, and what IS life?
Ninja Car is Dead: My car has been dying not-so-slowly. The transaxle and fuel emission lights would come on about once per week (up to a few times per day near the end). A dead starter and a AAA tow, and I spent the weekend on the hunt for a new shiny car.
Now to welcome my new car (which I have not yet named)! It’s a gray 2014 Honda Accord–quite the step up from my 2001 Ford Taurus. A 13-year step up, to be exact. There are things that will take getting used to: like driving faster than 55mph on the freeway and bluetooth and rearview mirrors and actual acceleration.
60-hour Work Weeks: Through the last few months, I’ve been working 60-hour weeks. That’s a lot of hours. Multiple hours. Too many hours. That’s what happens when you love your job, you have a sudden and spontaneous deadline, and you don’t mind being the only car in the parking lot of an office building.
New Coworker: We’ve hired a new Technical Writer to our team! See the above 60-Hour Work Weeks fiasco. Having a new coworker that I have to train will mean more work for a while and then less work when they are trained enough to take over some responsibilities. Woo hoo for sharing responsibilities!
The Never-Ending Outline: I’ve been working with my editor on the outline for my debut book, THE NAMELESS QUEEN, for a while now. We’ve spent a good chunk of time (ie months) settling on the new structure and motivations. I’m finally at the point where I have a deadline for the revised manuscript! Labor day! That’s six weeks from now! Six…. weeks…… *panics* Nope, everything will be fine. Deadlines are encouraging and motivating. A bit of healthy stress, right?
The VACATION! The SOLAR ECLIPSE: I started my current job in 2014, and I’m finally about to take my first real vacation! A whole week! On August 21, I’ll be somewhere near Alliance Nebraska, in the Path of Totality for the first total solar eclipse to pass through the USA since 1979! The next time it happens in America is 2024. (Though, there IS an annular eclipse in 2023 on my birthday!) For the rest of that week, I’ll be hiking in the black hills. Road trip!! (We will not be taking my new car, because of mileage and warranty reasons.) And with those long long weeks I’ve been working, a vacation will be just what I need.
What IS life? New cars and coffee stains and computer keyboards. All of these things and everything else.
Rebecca McLaughlin 