My five year old began school last week, which caused no small amount of anxiety in the household. It's been just as rough for us as it has been on him, I think. Sending our little boy out into the great big world to experience some small level of independence is scary.
I've been a work from home dad for eleven years, now. There's a lot to be said for being your own boss and taking control of your own fate...but there's also something to be said for stability in the form of not putting the entire world on your shoulders.
Over the past several weeks I have had a stirring inside of me as I continue my own mental health recovery process. It has led me down the avenue of searching for a job outside the home. To that extent I took a shot in the dark and am about to go to work for the good old USPS. It will be part time to start, which is perfect. Still, it ads no small amount of stress to the household.
I am wondering what it is going to do to my writing schedule, but not overly concerned. I have always taken the 'trench writing' approach; writing whenever I get a small stretch of silence so I can think. I don't imagine it will be much different whether I am delivering mail or chasing a small child around the house.
Draft one of The Dreaming Sea is in the home stretch. I'm over 70,000 words in and beginning the wrap up chapters. I'd be lying if I said it was a great draft, but it is a start. I already have a litany of changes for draft two, including shifting the focus from one character to another and probably eliminating the chapter that I am currently writing, altogether. Being a writer is so frustrating before it becomes rewarding.
Personally, I am feeling much better these days. My mental health has largely stabilized and my thinking has been clarifying with each day. It's like emerging from a fog bank and finding a whole world that I couldn't see through the depression.
Here's to all the adventures that still await.
Until next time.
