During the break in my magazine class tonight, my instructor asked how the writing/unemployment was going. I mentioned that I was doing a freelance project this week, and he said, "Now you're going to find out what it's like to be getting paid, which is awesome, but simultaneously resent the project that is taking you away from your own stuff."
Exactly.
I actually am really enjoying the project that I'm working on (which is a good thing, since I spent another five hours on it today, and the size of the project keeps spiraling as they keep thinking of more stuff that I can work on, so I've got at least five hours of work to do tomorrow as well). And while ten hours of freelance work is too soon to determine whether I would actually like to do it full-time for, like, ever and ever, it could turn out to be a great match for my normal work style, since it would give me a combination of crushing deadlines and complete flexibility.
But, I'm supposed to be writing a book right now, and the whole reason I quit my job was so that I could write. Yes, this project will pay for a few months' worth of gym membership, or half a pound of fancy organic produce at Whole Foods, but as I had already budgeted for those things, a paycheck is less vital to me right now than time is. So, I'm going to have to strike a balance, but if nothing else, this has taught me that it is in fact quite possible to write at my desk for five hours a day, which I intend to do starting this weekend (or as soon as the project is done, whichever comes first).
However, despite that, my day was quite good. I talked to the guy who hired me this morning, and he was quite happy with what I'd done so far (so much so that he intro'd me to the COO of the group to give me more work this afternoon). Then, I spent a couple of hours turning around his edits before eating lunch (I made myself my very own "baked potato Wednesday", since I don't require my employer's cafeterias to secure potato-based sustenance). After that, I went to the gym, where I had a complimentary evaluation session with a personal trainer. She was really, really good, and I clicked with her immediately; in addition to talking about goals, taking measurements, etc., she also watched me walk and do push-ups and squats to evaluate where and how things were out of alignment (and there were things out of alignment, which is no surprising given that I like to slouch onto my neck while sitting in a desk chair, and even now am typing this in a contorted non-yoga-approved position on my couch). I'm doing the second half (a workout) with her tomorrow, and then I think I might spring for some training sessions with her - so far I'm loving this gym, and it would be nice to take full advantage of it.
When I got home, I did a load of laundry (and talked to the girl whose mother lives in the garage; as you may recall, she's the sister of one of my favorite romance novelists ever, which is just bizarre), made some potato-leek soup (I do love my potatoes, and I have way too many of them sitting around right now), and did the reading for my magazine class. Then, I went to class, where they workshopped my piece (to mostly positive feedback, with some really helpful critiques/suggestions), came home, and worked for a couple of hours.
Tomorrow's shaping up to be much the same; I need to decide whether to go to a writing group tomorrow night or whether to attend a free lecture at Stanford on millenialism and the apocalypse in medieval times (medieval times the era, not Medieval Times the dining/entertainment experience, although I would probably like to learn about the apocalypse at Medieval Times as well). So, I should get some sleep -- goodnight!
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