resolute

First of all, my apologies. The past few months have not been especially good when it comes to the blog...and also the activities that make for copy on the blog.

Though I'm sure most of you know this (from whiny back-channel emails), I added an extra day a week to my usual two part-time days in November. In December, that was upped to full-time, which will continue until the end of January.

I made the decision based on a couple of factors the foremost of which was that I'd pushed and pushed to finish Hump, my manuscript of poetry, in time for a mid-November deadline...and thought I would very likely need a break from writing.

But, foolish me, working full-time isn't a break. Between work and my other work-like obligations (organizing events for Aqua Books, facilitating the poetry workshop for Creative Retirement Manitoba, reviewing books for the Winnipeg Free Press) - and the fact that I had to spend considerable time with Aa, reassuring her that I wasn't going anywhere except to work - there was very little time left for housework, nevermind writing.

Did I also mention that Xmas was in there somewhere?

Anyone halfway rational would say:







"Give up some of your extracurricular, at least for the short term..."

or "Aren't you supposed to be taking a bit of a break? Why not just enjoy it?"

But...the extracurricular are what keep me sane. And really, there's my blither blather about writing, the idea that I can schedule my need to write, and then there's the part of my brain that gets all gnaw-y and piss-y when I don't write.

And so, for the first time in months, I have a full slate of submissions out in the world, to the CBC Literary Awards, to Carousel, and The Fieldstone Review, and a handful more.

And the VERY hastily put together launch of A/Cross Sections at Aqua featured both a full house and a good vibe.

So while I didn't actually write much (which is why I'm gnaw-y and piss-y and not blogging much), I'm reasonably pleased with what I got done and ever more resolute in my conviction that working full time is a fool's bargain. A bum's rush.

So I've only got another month of whining and woe-is-me-ing before I'm back to my part-time existence.

(My apologies to those who work for money full-time when they'd rather be doing something else...I know how lucky I've been, lo these past few years, to be able to work park time.)