It's been my "vacation" time, you see. I finished my last assignment on July 8, writing furiously to the end, and then scheduled some "down time" before my next assignment was due (Sept. 3). That way I could devote my full attention to an upcoming conference and sending out some submissions to agents/editors, yadda yadda yadda. I would have six glorious weeks without worrying about due dates! And this is how I have spent them:
July 12-16: Catch up on at least two months' of updates for the website I administer; correspond with all my relatives to plan our camping menus; shop, do laundry, pack, and otherwise prepare for camp. Write a couple of blog entries to post the week I'm gone.
July 17-23: Go to camp up north! It's awesome, I have fun, I hike and bike and read and sleep and cook and eat and swim and hang out with my family. I do nothing remotely resembling work, because I have no internet access anyway. I promise I will get the recipes everybody liked and post them on my blog. Some day.
July 24-28: A couple of days to recover from camp—catch up on laundry, shopping, mail—and then a couple of days to prepare for the SCBWI conference. This involves double-checking my travel plans, installing software on my new little netbook (I will be writing in a workshop), getting supplies and making wings for the costume ball I'll be attending, making sure everything is arranged for my absence, blah blah blah. I manage to write one blog entry to post while I'm gone, but I figure I'll post on some of the exciting things from the conference while I'm there.
July 29-August 3: spend a day traveling to LA for the conference, arrive late with just enough time to have dinner and shop for lunches. Have four straight days of keynotes and workshops and classes that run from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, with an hour break for lunch if I'm lucky. Attend events or try to network or write my workshop homework during the evenings. Fall into bed exhausted with barely enough energy to check my e-mail—I'll blog the good stuff later. Then, instead of arriving home after the red-eye, spend 7 hours in Chicago's O'Hell airport when my connecting flight is cancelled.
August 4: sleep.
August 5-6: watch over Boy, who gets his wisdom teeth out, and make treats like his favorite soup and pudding. Finish up last homework for conference workshop and send to editor. Prepare application for local conference in October, hopefully in time to score breakout workshop I want. Stock up on mushy goodies for Boy to enjoy over the weekend.
August 7-8: go with neglected husband for weekend at Stratford Festival. Enjoy two plays and riverside gardens, but do no blogging.
August 9: Crap. Deadline to submit photo requests for September article. Realize I need to start working on it.
Today: Wonder, where did all my free time go? Did I actually get anything done over the last month, because my "to-do" list looks unchanged. Look for fire extinguisher for hair.
So I promise, over the next few weeks I will try to have some postings of great family recipes from camp, great things I learned at the conference, along with my usual features. Once I get my brain under control, that is.
I love the label "I go crazy." We seem to do this to ourselves every summer.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of Plummer???
Wonderfully plummy, although I thought the actresses who played Ariel and Miranda were excellent as well.
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