Items are dropping off the plate
I always knew I had almost too many interests in my life: sewing, painting, writing, reading, singing, and so on. It's often a major balancing act to give each interest enough attention to succeed, on top of the day job, upkeep of the home (thankfully shared with E), and being social online and in person.
I tend to have a yearly cycle for various projects: I go hermit in the late autumn and winter to concentrate on writing and painting - some years I can produce 3-4 paintings, and get a good start on a new book's first draft. I spend much of the spring and summer allowing for more social time and conventions (while doing some editing on various writing projects). Rehearsals start up for the Court Revelers in the early spring. It's only an hour per week commitment through July, but I usually take on a couple of Renfest sewing projects for myself or others, too. Then Renaissance Festival consumes my life from August until the beginning of October.
This cycle has worked for a number of years now, but somehow, extra projects have crept up on me:
- With the new house, I found that I actually enjoy gardening - and really enjoy the fresh veggies that came out of it. But that's a new time suck in the spring and summer.
- After the second knee injury in 2010, I also noticed that the usual PT exercises weren't helping as much, and my knee was in pretty constant pain. So, last December I started working out on a borrowed elliptical machine to strengthen my legs. It has helped a ton, but now I've added three or four half-hour workouts to every week.
- On the sewing front: Eric will be trying out a new character at Renfest this year, and needs a whole new costume. Plus I committed to participating with a group in the CONvergence masquerade this year - which means I'm making a costume for myself, and probably two others. And I've had at least two more costuming client inquiries for Renfest.
I've managed to do a little painting and writing in the past few months: I reworked an older painting, wrote a short poem that I'm shopping around, and I'm revisiting my urban fantasy crime novel, slowly making edits. But I haven't created any new major works since wrapping up Broken Legacy this winter. Another thing that has dropped from that plate is sharing news of my life here. I'm not even posting much on FB. I think it all stems from being overwhelmed to the point where I've run out of time to get my thoughts together enough to blog about them. But I am still visiting from time to time, to at least catch up on all the things that keep my friends crazy busy too. And once life re-balances, I can look back at this post and remind myself: in the buffet of life activities, sometimes you just have to step away and take care of what's on your plate before loading it up with more.
I tend to have a yearly cycle for various projects: I go hermit in the late autumn and winter to concentrate on writing and painting - some years I can produce 3-4 paintings, and get a good start on a new book's first draft. I spend much of the spring and summer allowing for more social time and conventions (while doing some editing on various writing projects). Rehearsals start up for the Court Revelers in the early spring. It's only an hour per week commitment through July, but I usually take on a couple of Renfest sewing projects for myself or others, too. Then Renaissance Festival consumes my life from August until the beginning of October.
This cycle has worked for a number of years now, but somehow, extra projects have crept up on me:
- With the new house, I found that I actually enjoy gardening - and really enjoy the fresh veggies that came out of it. But that's a new time suck in the spring and summer.
- After the second knee injury in 2010, I also noticed that the usual PT exercises weren't helping as much, and my knee was in pretty constant pain. So, last December I started working out on a borrowed elliptical machine to strengthen my legs. It has helped a ton, but now I've added three or four half-hour workouts to every week.
- On the sewing front: Eric will be trying out a new character at Renfest this year, and needs a whole new costume. Plus I committed to participating with a group in the CONvergence masquerade this year - which means I'm making a costume for myself, and probably two others. And I've had at least two more costuming client inquiries for Renfest.
I've managed to do a little painting and writing in the past few months: I reworked an older painting, wrote a short poem that I'm shopping around, and I'm revisiting my urban fantasy crime novel, slowly making edits. But I haven't created any new major works since wrapping up Broken Legacy this winter. Another thing that has dropped from that plate is sharing news of my life here. I'm not even posting much on FB. I think it all stems from being overwhelmed to the point where I've run out of time to get my thoughts together enough to blog about them. But I am still visiting from time to time, to at least catch up on all the things that keep my friends crazy busy too. And once life re-balances, I can look back at this post and remind myself: in the buffet of life activities, sometimes you just have to step away and take care of what's on your plate before loading it up with more.