The pace of my work just now can be described in one word:
Aaaarrrggghhhh!!
People are asking questions faster than I can answer
them. They're sending things for me to review quicker than I can review them. This
is a Good Thing, as I keep having to remind myself. This means they're working on
the projects we've been pushing them to do. This also means, it being only
September, that there's a good chance we'll make our hard deadline at the end of
this year.
If I'm not dead of exhaustion by then.
I was
amused, in a diary I read regularly, to hear a SAHM (Stay at-Home Mom) pointing
out that her work takes an enormous amount of time, that people who do this and
also have outside jobs tend to have housekeeping services, settle for messy
houses, and eat a lot of take-out. All absolutely true, but missing one vital
point: if I didn't have a paid job, I would be settling for a messy house, eating
prepackaged and take-out food only every other day, and wishing for a housekeeping
service. There are many reasons I don't plan to ever have "homemaker" or even
"stay-at-home mom" as my primary job description, but one not insignificant one is
that I would be terrible at it (though I do wish I could work at home). Of
course, given a modicum of intellectual honesty, that means I can't disdain those
who have skills I don't. I can only assume all those stereotypical men who (used
to - one hopes it's past tense) assume running a house is easy have never tried.
That, and wish I had a housekeeper.
I was not amused at all to read
in a diary I don't frequent, that the solution to stressful jobs is just to work
less. Not all jobs pay by the hour, for one thing; for every professional thing
I've ever done, you work the greater of 40 hrs/week or what's required to get the
job done, or you don't have the job. I don't work overtime to satisfy my retail
lusts; I don't get paid extra for OT at all. The thing that makes my day so long
is the hideous (well, actually parts of it are quite pretty) commute. The only
immediate solution to that would be to quit my job and the thing is, despite the
pace at times, I like my job. I think it matters, I work with some great people,
and it's something I think I can do well. As for stress and flurry, honestly, I do
prefer having a bit of it, to keep me feeling challenged. It's just that there are
limits. I'd be happy to cut back, if only there were anything I was willing to
give up, but though I like the money, mercenary motives are not at the heart of it
for me.
P.S. If I know you and you're a fiction writer, you should take Emma Bull's and
Will Shetterley writing seminar and
come visit me just before or after. (And if you happen to be related to me and you
don't have a car (hint hint) I might even be persuaded to drive you four hours or
so to Bisbee.)