Back! .... Temporarily At Least

Hello, World!

So today I am back. Home and in my office. Staring out at the fabulous staircase I have oh-so-missed while I was traveling with work. Who would've thought I'd ever miss the whole monkey at the zoo vibe I get because my office window overlooks the top of the staircase and people come up the stairs and just stare at me? Anyway, at one point I was in 3 timezones within 4 days. Yowza! To all those who travel extensively with work, whatever kind of work you may do, *bowing down*.

I don't normally travel much at all with work, prior to this past two weeks, I'd been on 3 trips in about 3 years. Things just culminated and suddenly I understand much more what the people I work with mean when they talk about how much they are on the road. It's tough. I missed my kids, my husband. I missed my bed, my stuff. And I missed have MY time. On a work trip with a big group, it leaves little time to hole up in your room and work on your book. There's a level of social interaction that is expected.

The expectation aside, there are some changes being made at a higher level that impact our whole team and it was a tough thing to have to accept. But hey, as I've been advised repeated ... "I serve at the discretion of my leadership" ....

Okay, that's enough whining. So I haven't had much time to write. Read. Sleep. Or pretty much anything. Even this morning, being back home, my body is still trying to figure out what timezone I'm in and if I should be hungry now or later. Seriously. So to solve that problem, I've just taken on eating all the time. Probably not the healthiest of options. But I have a week home to stabilize before I head off on another week-long trip to the East Coast. Baltimore this time.

Meanwhile, in what little writing I have been able to do, I've found some places where I definitely need some work. A while back I read a blog post by Lady Glamis: Working in Layers and I am really understanding that concept better now. That initial flow of your pen, though it may be fabulous as a first draft, that is what it is. A first draft. There are SEVERAL of these long before any project is truly ready. And each run through, another layer should be added. *Lightbulb* - Yeah, I really get it now.

In addition to that, I am still writing in my "organized-haphazardness" way what the "voices" in my head tell me. I did get to the point where it was such a hodge podge of sections, I've gone back and layed it out to match my outline. I even had to print out a calendar and make notes on it so I've got a sort of timeline when things happen and I'm not having things happen in the wrong order. My husband thinks this is totally bizarro and I've thought about it much too thoroughly, but I don't get how he can stare at a box of fishing jig-thingys for ten minutes deciding which one is the right one for his next trip. *Raises cup of coffee* to each his/her own, I guess.

This was just an update, I've not been that great about keeping up and have found myself stretched a bit thin, but over the next week, hopefully, I should be able to get back to my routine. At least until I'm thrown completely off track by my trip to Baltimore.

Ahh, well, back to the grind of it. At least I remembered my coffee this morning. Oh yes, did I forget to mention that all these trips have me back on my coffee addiction? And I have been so good since I had the baby! (E will be 1 next Friday! Eeek! Time flies...)

Have a great weekend everyone!