Taking Care of Business

Hola! Scott and I had one of the best vacations ever in Baja. We went to the beach and swam in the Gulf of California and relaxed in the sun. We spent time in a great community called Todos Santos, populated by a surprising number of ex-pats and filled with art galleries. We stayed in a little boutique hotel in Cabo San Lucas, called The Bungalows and got to know the wonderful family who owns and operates it very well. We learned all about Dia de los Muertos, which was very cool. For the first time in seven years, I spent a vacation with absolutely no access to the internet or work emails. I read four books. We ate and slept when we felt like it and came back feeling refreshed.

The timing was good.

There are times when work becomes so all-encompassing that there’s no time left for much of anything else and I am in the midst of one of those times. I miss the blogosphere. I miss reading the posts and comments and I miss writing my own. Popping in after an extended absence feels a little like what I imagine it must be like to disappear from a regular A.A. meeting for a month and then suddenly reappear. People wonder. Is something terribly wrong?

The dog days of summer and the early autumn were slower and I got to immerse myself in writing and workshops and reading blogs and comments and it was wonderful. Activities related to my job in sales are tied tightly to the calendar and every year at about this time, we gear up to close as much business as we possibly can before the end of December. Within the company, we enter into the sparring match that constitutes establishing quotas and compensation plans for the upcoming year. The workday extends ‘round the clock at this point.

There was a time when this kind of interruption would leave me heartbroken and discouraged that so little time is left for writing, but this year, I accept it. Although it’s not my dream job as a published author, it’s the means to an end and it keeps me in toner cartridges and bond paper. It’s demanding, but the truth is that it’s been good to me in many ways.

I’m still writing and I’m still part of a weekly workshop, but I’ve come to the realization that I have to cut my blogging back until we get closer to the New Year. I’ll still be lurking often, although not commenting quite as much, but I’ll be back. I’ll miss being here every day. Since so many of you are my friends, please drop me an email when especially exciting things happen – as they so often do.