It's coming ...

Can you feel it in the air?

I can. Snow is melting, skies are blue, and the temperatures are finally warming up.

Of course, spring in Minnesota is a wildly variable month, and not to be trusted. We can have blizzards alternating with shorts-weather. So I won't run out and plant any seeds just yet.

But my thoughts can start turning away from winter to spring. This was a way stressful week, so it's nice to anticipate pleasantness for a change. Why oh why did we have an acquisition during a major release/deadline? Oh, wait. We wouldn't have had these deadlines if we hadn't been acquired! Oh well. I think I got most of the functionality documented, and if I didn't -- customers love to file bugs.

Yep, a new phase is starting, not just spring, but in my life. In a few months my first book will be out, followed in September by book 2, November book 3, and December, book 4. Wow. I suspect I'll have another one out this year, too. Pretty amazing.

I'd better enjoy spring while I can. I think I'm going to be busy this year...

Sometimes you've just got to slow down ...

I was right.

It was one of those weeks.

I won't go into details, but it's been a b*tch and it's only Tuesday. Suffice it to say I had to stop everything this weekend to deal with a crisis, one which did not resolve happily. But it resolved peacefully and that's all that can be expected, I guess.

I was just recovering from that when I landed in a mess at work. My company, as you may recall, was consumed by another bigger company. That meant a blizzard of email on top of the snow-blizzard. So when I got to the office on Monday, I had to shovel all that sh*t off my desk. Six hours later, I was working again.

By the time I got home on Monday night I felt like somebody had punched me several times with large, hard objects. I flopped into my chair and just ... stopped. I stopped and thought and allowed all the stress to ooze out of me. I stopped and just ... thought. I let memories and peace and quietness wash over me. I didn't worry about my email program, my release dates, my promotional efforts, or what I needed to accomplish.

For about an hour I sat and just remembered those who are departed, animal and human. I remembered it so vividly that I could almost hear the voices or the purrs. When I finally allowed the memories to slip away and 'came back' to this time and place, I felt as though I'd been strengthened by them and ready to face the world again.

That feeling lasted until today, of course, when I went into work and found yet more nonsense awaiting me in the form of paperwork, bureacracy, and software that doesn't quite work the way it should.

But I know that I can go to that happy place again and revisit those who are gone. That is a consoling thought. When I need them, they'll be there.

Thank you.

It's been one of those weeks

It started with all that snow on Sunday and it just never slowed down. The Sunday blizzard lasted into Monday, and made life slow going because of icy streets, etc.

Once we got shoveled out from that storm, another one hit. This one came on Thursday and we got 16" on top of the foot or so we already had. I tried to drive in to the office, and had to turn around and go home and work from home for a few hours. Then I got to the office and the snow started coming down, so I turned around again and came back home, where I worked for Thursday and Friday. I'm lucky I can do that, believe me, I know.

The stressful thing about it is I've got these huge deadlines at work, and everything got complicated with the Big Changeover. On Thursday my company was totally acquired (that is, all the paperwork finished up) by another company. So I got a blizzard of email in addition to the blizzard of snow. All of it pointed to web sites and things to do, which of course I couldn't do because I was at home, in a snow blizzard.

It kept snowing all Thursday and into Friday, so I didn't venture out until Friday afternoon and I didn't drive to work, I just stayed in the neighborhood, sort of testing the roads, which were icy and snow-packed. So all that important paperwork is going to have to wait until Monday because I am booked solid for the weekend -- I've got a sick kitty I need to try to get to the vet, if they'll squeeze me in, a play to go to this afternoon, a meeting tomorrow, a spouse to drive to the airport ...

Thank goodness I'm caught up on my writing. I've turned in all my rewrites so I can be in composition mode, but with all this cr*p on my plate, I haven't felt like composing. I'm hoping it will quiet down by next week and life will approximate normal.

If it's not one thing, it's another ...

Isn't it spring yet?

I shoveled for 2.5 hours on Sunday.

We didn't get much snow on Saturday, just a dusting. When I went to bed I figured the weatherpeople had exaggerated again and the so-called blizzard wouldn't arrive.

Woke up on Sunday, looked outside. It's deceptive, you see. It's sort of hard to tell how deep the snow is on the drive and in the back yard, well, it's all woods, so it never looks deep out there.

I figured I'd drive over to the gym, work out then come back and shovel.

Opened the garage door and stepped outside. Snow up to my knee.

Hmm. I shoveled for half an hour and took a half-hour break. Shoveled for another half-hour, another break. Then one last half-hour. Keep in mind that I don't have a big driveway. It's about 1.5 car wide and 2 car long. Not huge. But huge enough.

Luckily the wind wasn't blowing too much so nothing drifted over. We're supposed to get some more tonight and through Friday. Heck, I don't care. I brought my laptop home and if it gets bad, I'll wimp it out and work from home. I've got more than enough work to keep me busy.

Why couldn't my Florida conference be in March instead of April? I could use a dose of sunlight right now ...

J

Time for ... time

I sorted my socks today.

I can hear you now --"Whoee, what an exciting life this author must lead, she sorted socks today." {sounds of puzzlement expressed.}

This is momentous because I haven't had time to do mundane things for about four months. I have been:

• writing
• editing
• researching publishing
• researching promotion
• researching 1934 St. Paul (for my next book)
• doing errands
• working 40+ hours a week
• staying in touch with friends, family and spouse
• watching after the elderly and aging cat
• doing laundry
• getting groceries
• going to the gym
• attending RWA chapter meetings
• writing newsletters (mine and for the chapter)
• planning trips
• going on trips

Then the whole cycle starts again.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm enjoying it. But yesterday I had back-to-back appointments, for which I'd taken some time off from work. At one point, I decided to nip over to the grocery store. For the first time in probably 3 months, I wasn't there with a list and a purpose. I (dare I say it) browsed. I thought about upcoming menus. I considered options. I did not power-shop the store.

And today I sorted my socks. I took the time to gather all those widowed socks, and find their partners, which were lurking in the back of the drawer. You see, I'm feeling organized, and in control of what has to be done so I feel I can take this bit of time.

Oh, yeah, I have to write a couple of new books this year and the old muse just isn't striking me. I'm not worried. It will strike and I'll write them. When it does, I'll be so immersed in my own little world that I won't have time to sort my socks, go to the grocery store, or do much of anything on that list up above.

So I'm going to enjoy this while I can ...