Starting Monday, I’m off from work for two weeks. So it’s understandable that when I complained about how much I have to get done before my husband and I leave for vacation on Thursday, his response was, “Relax, you’re on vacation.”
To which I replied, “Are you kidding?”
Because while I might be off from Job #1, the job that pays the bills and the health insurance and the mortgage, there’s still Job #2 to think about. That’s the job that doesn’t earn me any money – yet. It’s the job I wake up at 6 am every morning for. The one I do at nights, and on weekends. The one I am hoping to make into a full-time, paid position.
No, I don’t intern. I’m a writer.
Writing doesn’t mean I sit down at the computer and type for a few hours and have something magical to share with the rest of the world. It’s not something I do in my spare time, like knitting or baking. It is emphatically not a “jobby.” It is a profession. A career. A job.
It hasn’t always been. For years I fiddled. Dabbled. Wrote a few lines here and there. Did NaNo for a year, then didn’t write anything else for the next twelve months. It’s different now. For me, the key is this:
I sit down and write even when I don’t want to. I sit down and write when I’ve been up late the night before and want to sleep in an extra hour. I sit down and write when I’ve worked an 80 hour week and want to do nothing more than veg on the couch and watch Gossip Girl.
I’ll leave you with this.
M keeps telling me that I’m on vacation this month. Except for the part where I’m not on vacation, I just don’t have class during the day. And I have a systematic review of literature relevant to my thesis topic due in 2 weeks. And a summer camp brochure package & website update to roll out for the farm. Yeah. Vacation…. :-p But please do have fun on yours!
vacations are just that – a time away from work – and a time to reflect and enjoy. We took vacations every year as a kid and I loved them. Went camping almost every time. Not sure if my mom enjoyed them as much as we did.
Marrying changed vacations again and the two of us once took a month off from work and just traveled. No real schedule, destinations known but the arrival time did not matter. Late night breakfasts and early morning adventures. It was one of the most relaxing vacations ever, especially because it had been so hot in Texas that summer, over 100 for 42 straight days. Shivering in the morning in the Appalachians was a delight.
When we had kids, our vacations were different, usually revolved around school and summer breaks and which one of us could take what block of days off. Time together was generally spent traveling to see my folks or my wife’s sister. Relaxing yes, exotic, well going to a 55 gallon drum buried sideways and big as the state of Texas and then visiting the Luther Mall. Last year was Gettysburg. What made these times special was being with family.
Now the kids are scattered, all are somewhat grounded and centered. Time with all 3 doesn’t happen as much and is a vacation time I treasure