Waiting game

    If there is one thing that I am absolutely horrible at, its waiting. It is for that reason, I suppose, I have trouble making pasta, doing long math problems, filling out paperwork and anticipating news of my future.

    When you are your own boss, there are things to do, people to contact, paperwork to fill out (my least favorite part of the job) and always something to update online. Even if you're just getting people and supplies together to do something fun, there are more than ample things to prepare. Widgets to cut out, paint to mix, etc.

    Writing is a good refuge for the timelessness of waiting. It distracts me from the now and lets me concentrate on the then. Even if it does happen to be a fictional when, there are still elements to look over and characters under my care. I have to feed them, clothe them and clean up their messes even if they are all messes of my own creation. At the risk of sounding like a megalomaniac, I am their god and creator, even if they'll never be aware of me unless I tip my hand in written form.

    That did sound a little crazy, didn't it? This is what waiting does to me. I thrive best as a part of a group, and waiting alone at my house drains my energy and makes me stir crazy. Biking around during the day helps these "itchy feet" of mine, but its only a stop-gap until I'm working full time again. Granted, up until last Tuesday I had 3 jobs, and now I only have 1... many people don't have any. Know that I am grateful for the job I have, and that I enjoy teaching as much as I do, but I would like to have something more lucrative to fill my time.

   As a direct result of my new-found free time, my writing is coming along nicely. I am now 6 chapters into my 10 chapter goal. The problem seems to be that the more I write about these people, the more comes to life about them. Its starting to look like 15 chapters is a better goal. Much like real life, there are no easy answers about the situations in which they all find themselves. I don't want to cheapen their fictional lives by wrapping up their character arc in some trite 30-minute sitcom style. Resolution with a satisfying end. Full but not bloated and finished but not deathly finite.

    Guess I have more to do that I thought!