Real life, publications, and writing

Suffice it to say, I’ll be happy when the current phase of my day job is over and I can get back to just a workaholic who writes in his free time. For the last month now, I have been acting Director of Devops at Imgur.

Don’t get excited.

The position is temporary while I help look for someone willing to take it on full time. Which also means in the interim I am doing both that job and my job along with all of the other giraffe corralling that that involves. That’s not to say the job is bad, but wearing both hats is wearying. I look forward to the day I’m only wearing the one hat, whichever it turns out to be (and it most likely will be the one I was wearing before – again, don’t get excited).

Of course, when a workaholic says work is crushing them, that means there really is no time left to write. Which is a shame, because I have both a novel in revision, a stack of short stories in need of a little more love, and a notion for making one of my stories the seed for a novel (that last one is thanks to a very persistent beta reader who’s opinion I value). And all of that on top of waiting to hear back on short stories that are out there in the wild already.

I realize that this is the kind of situation that separates writers from daydreamers. I know I am on the cusp of getting some short stories published. Despite all of the revisions I know are ahead of me for the current novel, I really believe it will find an audience. And on top of all that, I know that seed that’s sitting on the side right now can truly blossom given some love, attention, and time. And of course words, lots of words.

Finding the time is the hardest part. For now, I have to give balance to work and family, but that leaves precious little time for writing at the end of the day. Since I can’t seem to get anyone on board with extending the number of hours in a day, I guess I’ll have to resort to finding a new way to wedge the writing in. I know that if I don’t act soon, the words for these stories will begin to shrivel. It’s only through the constant act of pruning and nurturing that stories develop and flourish.

And on that poetic note, have a good one! I’m off to nurse a swollen gum (as a result of dental surgery) and do some housework.