I Should Be Writing

 

I used to wonder if I could keep busy freelancing from home. I no longer ask myself that question, because I know I can.  The question now is do I have the ability to make that self-sustaining/profitable?

This afternoon I managed to crank out three paying articles.  And, for this particular client, I have more to write before the end of the month.

While the extra income is great, it’s not enough for full time work.

See, I have this goal that when I retire from my “real” day time job (and yes I do have a date in mind), I’ll be able to write from home.  I imagine my day going something like this.

I’d get up, have a leisurely cup of coffee catching up on emails and spending some time reading the Word and praying.  Yeah, I do that.  Then, if he’s still not driving, I’d take the offspring to school.  After that I’d head to the Y for a swim, stop by a coffee shop and catch up on the day’s news on the laptop.  Then I’d come home to write for the rest of the day.  The news would be on TV, but muted.  Spotify would be tuned to the inspiration of the day.  Then with the Keurig charged, I’d sit down and write the next great American novel.  Having, of course, financed this by writing the last great American novel.

That’s the dream.

But seriously, I know it will be more work than that.  I often ask myself if I’m disciplined enough.  If given the opportunity will I work at the writing hard enough to make a living?  Or will I be tempted by the distractions of Words with Friends and Pinterest?

It’s something I have to consider.

But darn it, it took me 53 years to figure out that this is what I’ve wanted to do all my life.  Now I have a little more than two years to make it happen.

Okay, I’ve got longer if I delay the retirement.  But that commute downtown is really starting to get to me.  I suppose I need to find a way to make that travel time productive, such as finally getting off mi trasero to learn Spanish.

But the preferred solution is to eliminate the commute.

And the quickest way to do that is to keep writing.

Children’s author E.L. Konigsburg said “The difference between being a writer and being a person of talent is the discipline it takes to apply the seat of your pants to the seat of your chair and finish.  Don’t talk about doing it.  Do it.  Finish.”

So, excuse me, I need to be writing.

Just Back from the Richmond Home Show…

We just got back from the Home Show and Maymont Flower and Garden Show. For the first time in several years we went without the now 12-year-old, so we didn’t have to drag him away from the gutter guard guys.

I’m not really sure if we were disappointed, or if after so many years there are just fewer vendors we want to see. Some of the things we’re planning for the house are still a few years off (we have a list). So talking to the window guys, and flooring salespeople just isn’t on our list. It’s not that we want to be rude. But there’s no use to give them our info only to have to tell them every month for the next year “not yet.”

We wish we’d also avoided the magnetic gemstone salesman, but unforunately someone, not me, said “Ooo, shiney” and before we knew it we were being shown necklaces, bracelets and anklets. Supposedly I should have felt better in 60 seconds. But when he said “here I need to spray this on you, lift up your shirt.” That’s when we left.

I’ve already talked about seeing myself in the mirror. There are very few places in life where I just take off my shirt. The Greater Richmond Convention Center is not one of those places.

So, we moved on.

We were still in a bit of a snarky mood when a woman selling shoe inserts yelled to my wife, “Ma’am, what size shoe do you wear?”

I began to wonder if we were at the wrong show.

Still, we did manage to be intrigued by options to redo our kitchen counters and refinish the upstairs bathtub. Those people we might actually call back.

And as usual, the arts, crafts and plant displays from the Maymont show are fun to look at. We came home with some willows to root and plant in the spring.

All in all, not a bad day. But the show seemed smaller to us. I’m not sure if that was because we’ve seen most of the vendors over the years, or if there were actually fewer participants.

The show goes through tomorrow at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.