Sigh… still here… again
You know I posted last week about all the work I had? Well, at many levels that’s great, fantastic, a vindication of my decision to shell out good money on a proofreading/editorial skills course and then pursue work through the lean times, and all that other self-affirming stuff. I’m also doing a separate course to enable me to be an effective volunteer helper in school and perhaps move on to a classroom assistant’s post – not a career path I’m totally committed to, but if the opportunity ever arises for some part-time work at my kids’ school (which I love), then I want to be qualified for it and be able to grab it with both hands. This is all GOOD.
However, at one level it’s not so great. I have no time. I worked all last week and a lot of the weekend, I work most evenings – at the moment the kids think my natural state is to be hunched and frowning over someone else’s manuscript, or pecking away at the computer doing coursework. I don’t slow down till my head hits the pillow, usually after midnight, and then I hit the ground running at 6.30am to make everyone else’s packed lunches and make sure my eldest daughter gets out of bed in time to have the shower she assures me she really needs before she gets the school bus. The house is a tip, the hamster and gerbils need cleaning out, the beds need changing, the ironing pile is threatening to avalanche onto my bed and crush me in my sleep and yet oddly no one has any clean underwear (seriously – what do they do with it? No, let’s not go there), and the toilets are starting to smell, but I have no time to address any of this.
Of course, this frantic activity will only last until I’ve finished my current job, and then I’ll be begging for something to turn my attention away from cleaning the bathrooms. There’s nothing else lined up work-wise, but since this job’s for a new client I really need to impress him and meet my (albeit self-imposed) deadline. I made a rookie mistake by counting the chapters and allocating myself 4 chapters a day, due to finish tomorrow and check/mail/invoice on Wednesday. However, two of yesterday’s chapters turned out to be epics, so now I’m way behind – I did the last one of yesterday’s chapters this morning in between supermarket shopping and dashing off to school for the afternoon, and have four more long ones to do today if I’m to keep on track, plus a little bit of coursework for tomorrow. Not gonna happen.
None of the above is really meant to be negative. I chose this, and I believe that the editorial stuff and the course are both valuable and good things for me to be doing – and it really is great to be busy, especially with the paid stuff. What does get my goat (and this is a moan) is the fact that no one else really seems to take it seriously. T complains and acts all martyred and neglected when I have to work in the evenings, the kids interrupt constantly when they’re around, even my parents and sisters (whom I adore and miss terribly) don’t offer to ring back at a more convenient time if I say I’m working when they call, forcing me to verge on rudeness and cut them off. I’ve blogged about this before, and I’m sure it’s the universal cry of the working mother, but no one really seems to value any of the stuff I do that doesn’t impact directly on them.
Except me, that is. I really do value all of it, which is why I keep on getting on that treadmill every morning. (Running – now there’s a thing I’d love to have the time/energy to do. Maybe tomorrow… hah.)
Boy, I don’t even have kids but this SO rings true for me, too! (My dog is totally pushy all day for attention and needs to be taken out several times and to get at least one walk in, and my husband can be a kid, too, so really, it’s the universal cry of the freelance editor!) Especially lately for me, with my friends and family. In fact, I can feel such a rant coming on, and I was just bitching about it to Colin today, about one particular friend who seems to be turning a deaf ear to what I’m saying and plowing ahead regardless. I don’t want to write out my rant, though, it’s just too much. Basically, I too feel I am not taken seriously, and it is REALLY getting to me.
So I hear you in this. And I absolutely have no answer for it. It’s hard to ignore the phone and email and other interruptions all day long. Especially when everyone takes offence.
I was away at a choral concert yesterday in Toronto, and Saturday I worked. When I returned the house was not cleaned and laundry had made it as far as the bedroom door. I didn’t clean the house but I did end up doing the laundry today.
I suppose all I can do is try to work more efficiently, which, it’s true, I’m not doing, so when people and dogs do interrupt, I feel I can afford a few moments for them.