Friday, March 13, 2009

Taking a break

In May of 2007 I graduated from a county high school in a class of less than 50 students and moved across the state for college.
In September of 2007, I took my first fiction workshop course. A week later, I was a marketing major/creative writing minor.
In January of 2008 I started working as a financial aid counselor in a high school guidance office. I quit on a Friday in April and on Tuesday morning at 6am, I landed in Zurich, Switzerland. It was my first time to leave the country and my first time to travel without my family. I spent a little more than three weeks in four countries on a creative writing trip and wrote my first two poems, both of which were unrescuably awful.
I returned in May of 2008 and dealt with a lot of emotional drama.
In June of 2008, I started working at my neighborhood Drive-In.
In July of 2008, my previous employer offered me a better job. I quit fast-food and started telemarketing again as well as regular office work, 40+ hours a week.
In August of 2008 I moved back to school and started working as a literary publicist. The funding fell through and I did it all on my own dime, both myself and the author I represent mostly figuring everything out on our own, stumbling blindly.
In August of 2008 I also started writing a novel.
In August of 2008 I also formed a writer's organization and got it chartered through my school.
In December of 2008 I finished my horrible novel.
In December of 2008, I started telemarketing again on my winter break, 40+ hours a week, as well as continuing my publicity and marketing job.
In January of 2009, I was paid for the first time for doing my job. I also had more emotional drama and quit blogging.

From March 6th to March 13th I have done everything in my power to become a ghost. I have kept up with my RSS feed, I have maintained contact with my author's and taken care of pressing tasks, I have answered emails, I have organized spreadsheets and cleared out links, I have written creatively and professionally, I have read assigned material, I have even reviewed a friend's work. But all at the most minimum of requirements, or actually, at the maximum of my tolerance level.
Mostly, I have rested. I have slept during the day for the first time since...August? Maybe? I have tried to do only what has strengthened my body and my soul. I have put aside the to-do list and done what was wanted and what was needed.
I might have been better off in the future if I had knocked out more of that list. There's a very good possibility that I will collapse next week since an excess of scheduled events are aligning on top of my regular work.
However, I feel so comfortable and so rested and so content with myself, that I do not care that I never got around to reading my stack of books on religious psychology or started outlining my next novel. I have taken a true break for the first time in 15 months and it was worth it.

Tomorrow, the to-do list begins again. Tonight, I will again read until my eyes collapse and I drift to blissful sleep.

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