Before the Boys Come Home

~ Laura

Hi, gang. Just finished writing an article. It’s all printed out, sitting patiently on the white tiled kitchen counter for Steve’s edits.  In the few minutes before the boys come home, I thought I would briefly check in.

I rather abruptly changed my work routines in the past month, and I’m still not quite sure what I’m supposed to do. Things will fall into place eventually, I know. We’re going away next week to Florida and I’m hoping that I will find clarity in the silicon streets of Diagon Alley.

This will be my third article in five weeks. The trouble with being a workaholic is that there isn’t too much real living that happens. I’ve been writing serious stuff all day, so I can’t muster a political post right now. In short, not much to blog about. So, once I plug in Steve’s edits, I solemnly swear that I will be properly silly for a couple of weeks.

Published by Laura

11 thoughts on “Before the Boys Come Home”

  3. Welcome back to your blog!

    We’re waiting for a pecan pie to come out of the oven and watching Dora (with the volume set looooow).

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  5. One of my discoveries during sabbatical has been that writing full-time (in my case, a book that I’ve been researching for six years, which I have another 15 months to complete) is really hard. Writing and research while teaching is challenging, but this is a whole different thing. If I describe it to someone – only working 5-8 hours a day! no other responsibilities! – it sounds totally decadent, but actually I am obsessing about the project all of the time and it doesn’t feel decadent at all. (Except the not getting up early part; that’s nice.) It is very hard to set a schedule, know what to work on when, how much to read on what topics, how much time to spend polishing the prose, etc. etc.

    Have fun in Florida! Everyone seems to love HP world.

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    1. My husband eventually discovered that sabbatical was terribly depressing for him–there’s just not enough stimulation and not enough shape to the day. He finds it more enjoyable and productive to have a reduced teaching load, but not no teaching.

      I wonder if there’s a writer’s group in Laura’s area for non-fiction writers? That might be helpful.

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      1. I’m not having any problems writing stuff. My big issues are what types of writing works best for me — long feature pieces, opinion, straight journalism, humor? I’m playing with different things. It’s coming together.

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      3. I meant for moral support and interpersonal interactions, rather than actual writing mechanics. Your writing is obviously just fine.

        People that work at home often have trouble keeping up their morale long term.

        “”… Those who study happiness suggest that it is not too good. Perhaps the best modern summation of what makes people happy is offered by psychologist Chris Peterson when he says ‘other people matter.’ Organizational scholar Jane Dutton of Michigan’s School of Business found in her research that the key to workplace happiness is something she calls ‘high-quality personal connections.'”

        http://www.talentmgt.com/blogs/6-psychology-at-work/post/does-working-from-home-make-us-depressed

        That’s one of the reasons why SAHMing is emotionally hazardous–it’s a work-at-home situation.

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