Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Endless Summer Days

Have you ever thought about how fast time seems to go? I remember when I was a kid the summer seemed endless. We got out of school the first week in June and didn't go back until the Thursday after Labor Day. It really was three months of long warm days to play and enjoy. Is this perception one of those developmental phenomenons that child psychologists have cited where the child's brain and interpretation of time isn't completely matured...or is it that the child's world view is such that she isn't concerned about time or calendar? Whatever it is, it's one of the joys of childhood that morphs into reality about the time she turns 16 and can legally work in the summer.

Last October I was asked to take early retirement. By month end I was on my own. You'd think without having to get up and go to work each day my life would have taken on that same sense of time I had as a kid, but it didn't. I can't believe it's been six months since I last sat at that desk, yet it has been. Actually, I've been so busy I sometimes wonder when I had time to work.

Writing is my job now. Every day I'm up at dawn and after spending time with the Lord I'm at my desk (which doubles as the dining room table) pounding away on my laptop. Some days are more productive than others, but I've managed to plot and start writing my cozy, write a proposal for that story and send it, write several articles and submit them...the list goes on. And just this week I received the promise of my first "paycheck!" I sold one of my articles. Payday won't come until fall when it is published, but I'm still dancing a jig--very carefully, mind you, as my fractured foot is still healing :-).

This is BIG in my world. An affirmation that I'm on the right track (or is it the write track). I still have a ways to go, but the road on this journey is getting a little smoother. Can't complain about that.