Ahh, writing vacation-time. It sounds lovely. It has such promise to it. Time to sling words at my iPad and build something wonderful.
It didn’t work out like that, and I regret using my vacation time for this. Here’s how it came out. A writing day, for me, is never a day. It’s a matter of hours, usually in the morning. When my wife is at work, I get quality time to chip away at my projects. She’s doesn’t work dawn to dusk, however. Her shift at the hospital usually puts her home around noon. You can see how a day get’s trimmed down to six hours or so, at best.
Wednesday was my flex day. I would have gotten it off regardless of vacation time. My wife got off at 8:00 that morning. I managed 1700 new words before my house got noisy, and bulldogs went berserk over playtime, etc.
Last weekend, we got the camper winterized. The man’s first move was to look at our roof and tell us we needed to have the entire roof recaulked, and quoted us a price of $900. (Dennis Dillon RV, in case you’re keeping score.) I’ve been around a scam or two in my day, and did not bite.
When a service costs more than my house payment, I tend to dig a bit deeper. It turns out my brother had his done in Elko, Nevada, for $175. He did this, because he didn’t have time, but said it was fairly easy to do.
My first idea was to tow the sucker several hundred miles and get it done there. Elko is a ridiculously expensive place to have anything done, but at least it’s cheaper than this clown wanted.
It turns out, my brother had all the time in the world right now, so he wanted to come up and look at my camper. We made arrangements for him to come up Thursday.
My wife was off Thursday, and it wasn’t a writing day anyway. Good deal, right?
He never got here until late afternoon. We looked at the roof, and he said the skylights and vents needed to be caulked, but the rest of it was fine. However, moving into Mountain Standard Time, we were out of daylight. We dragged the camper home, and waited until morning.
Frost killed some of the momentum, because this requires a dry environment to work properly. We went to the store and bought four tubes of caulk, just in case. Turns out these weren’t cheap, and I was into it about sixty bucks.
By mid-day, we were able to remove the old sealant, and do the caulking. We weren’t cheap about laying down the beads either; however, we only used one tube of caulk.
My wife had to work Friday, but my writing day was lost. Don’t get me wrong, visiting with my brother, and just hanging out with him was wonderful. I never regret spending time with family.
After we finished, we returned the unused caulk for a refund. In other words, I spent fifteen dollars to do what Dennis Dillon RV wanted to charge me $900 for. Oh, there was pizza, beer, and other expense involved, but you get my point.
Today, he didn’t hit the road until about 10:30. We did some more visiting over coffee this time. I really enjoyed our time together… but the writing time today is a total bust too. My wife will be here soon, and that’s all she wrote.
Tomorrow, Sunday, is the day I call my parents. This destroys Sunday mornings as writing time. My wife has to work again, but it is what it is.
We’re both off Monday, for Veteran’s Day. This means no quality time for writing purposes. Six glorious days turned into a few hours Wednesday morning.
My writer’s soul wants to tear shit up and burn it to the ground. I wish I’d never wasted my vacation time on this crap. We could have visited and fiddled with the camper on the normal days I get off and it would have worked out the same.
There is always something to do at the office, and I wish I’d have just went to work. When I return on Tuesday, I’ll be behind again, but didn’t get to do what I wanted with my vacation time.
This kind of thing frequently happens to me. Life tends to throw these curveballs my way more often than not. I’ve actually gotten about four hours of writing time in the last month, and they were all last Wednesday.
This is an author’s blog, and I try to give it to you warts and all. Sometimes I’ve been know to write 10,000 new words in one day. Sometimes I get 1700 in a month. We have real lives too, and life tends to get in the way.
I’ve learned to be grateful for other things over time. I got to visit with my brother, which rarely happens. I saved $885 that I don’t have too. This week, I got what I needed. This song has become the theme of my life. Maybe you can relate to it.
Well, you have your health.
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I didn’t get what I want, I got what I needed. That’s about the only way I can sum it up this week.
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Reblogged this on Where Genres Collide and commented:
I think everyone would be surprised what a writer’s real life is like, all the stalls, and pushing things to the side sometimes.
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It happens. This time it was my turn. I can’t let the camper leak all winter. Thanks for sharing the post.
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You’re welcome, Craig! You have to take care of things so they’ll be there for use when the time comes. It’s a shame that it cuts so much into one’s writing though.
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At least the camper is all secure for the winter. I don’t often see my brother, so that was a bonus.
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Not a bad week. Now you can write away and not to worry about your camper.
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True. The camper is secured for the winter.
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I’ve had lots of similar vacations. And I’ve pretty much discounted the weekends for writing, instead choosing to spend time with my husband. With everything that’s happened in our life of late, those weekends are just what I need. Glad you were able to spend time with your brother.
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It took me a long time to learn to appreciate what I get. I often don’t get what I want, but getting what I need is usually better.
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I hear you on that. I thought I’d get a ton of writing done this week as well (had a few days off), but of course life got in the way. Ugh. I’m sorry for your week though. 😦
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Life does that frequently. I’ll be back at it, when life allows. Hope you will too.
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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This is the story of my life too, so I can relate big time. I find that something will always happen if you make plans! You saved a fortune though, so that must make up for it!
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Visiting and protecting my camper was a great thing, no doubt. Thanks for the reblog.
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yes, that was important…
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Time’s a slippery little devil. One of these days I need to personify the cheeky chap and put him to work in a book, lol. Sorry your writing time didn’t work out. Glad you didn’t waste a load of money.
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Time would make a great character. You should do it. I’ve done that with Doubt. At least my camper is protected for the winter. Can’t let it fall all apart.
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Yeah, it’s a pain. Seems like any time I put money aside then something will break down and gobble up exactly that amount. Time can do the same thing. Hope you can find the spare minutes you need soon.
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Amazing how that seems to work out. I thought maybe I was the only one.
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We don’t always get what we want and seldom does anything turn out like we envision it. But, at the end of the day, you got to spend some time you can never re-create with your brother. And, there is no pressure for indie writers except what we put on ourselves. Just breathe!
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That’s good advice. I think my big mistake was not keeping my vacation days a secret. Others seem to think if I’m not at work, I am available for other things.
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Seeing your brother and saving big bucks were blessings. Sorry about your writing time, though. It’s hard to nail down.
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That lost vacation time hurts, but not paying the scam price to protect my camper kind of evens it out.
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Ah, a writer’s ebbs and flows. Don’t feel bad about the words. Take them when you can.
I’m glad you had a nice visit with your brother. And saved some money on the winterizing. Those are both wins. Enjoy your day off on Veteran’s Day. 🙂
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Thanks, Staci. I have two more weekends ahead of me with guests coming. It makes the loss of this time even worse. I’ll get time here and there, but not the big event I had planned.
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My productivity always goes down this time of year. Too much to do. Try to enjoy your visitors.
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Winter is usually my strongest season, but it isn’t technically winter yet.
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I can so relate to this. I just came off a 4 day weekend (which I planned to use to write) and wrote zero words. Ugh! I had a bad reaction to a Shingles shot which killed one day, then had two family get togethers I hadn’t planned on. Both were enjoyable andI had such a good time, but once again writing got pushed to the side.
For you, I’m so glad you saved a bundle on winterizing and got to spend time with you brother on top of it. I fully get that you don’t regret any of that, but it does get frustrating when well-laid plans go haywire. Sigh!
My brother just bought one of those drive-able RVS and brought it up yesterday. He was always to be a “boat person” but his boat is now up for sale and he’s become a landlubber with the RV!
Enjoy your day off tomorrow. That’s one holiday I don’t get.
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Camping is a lot of fun. Hope he enjoys it as much as boating. You understand completely. Family, and preservation of assets matter. It would be nice to have the writing time work out occasionally too.
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That song has to be the writer’s anthem! 😀
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It’s been mine for decades.
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I hate when things like that happen. Sorry you wasted your vacation time. Glad you managed to save so much money on the camper repair work though, and that you got to spend some time with your brother.
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Protecting my camper, and seeing my brother was great.
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LOVE the background!
Love the song!
Love that you had time with your brother!
Love you saved umpteen billion dollars on the winterize effort!
The rest, as they say, is just life. It is what it is. If it wasn’t this, it’d be somethin else. Blah blah blah 😛
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It’s honestly always something. There were a lot of good things about last week. Sometimes I pout too much.
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We’re all entitled.
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I thought maybe it was a man thing.
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Not a chance. Although, I’ll have you know, I am the least whiny tonight. I feel like I should get a cookie! 😛
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Have one on me.
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Okay!
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Well. That’s…lovely. For once, I’m not envious of your writing time. 😉 Sorry about the “vacation” but you are SO right: “We have real lives too, and life tends to get in the way.”
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I’m usually pretty productive. It just wasn’t my turn this time.
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You really are. Eh…next time. And you got to see your brother so, bonus.
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Exactly.
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Amazing story. I also love to travel
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