Life is happening even when it's not
In other news of the world, a couple of things happened over the last 8 days that bear noting.
First and most important is that I interviewed for and got a job. I'll be working as a content specialist for the Microsoft Legal and Corporate Affairs group (LCA), helping to manage their intranet site. It's a vendor position, but it appears they were looking for someone who would be willing to make a commitment longer than one year and were impressed with me. (I was described as having gravitas. If only they knew....) I'm actually quite excited about it; the work looks interesting, and the people I interviewed with were smart and aware. It's looking like I'll be officially starting either Thursday or Monday. That gives me a few days to get my life in order before I start with the Eastside commute again.
Second, for the last 8 months or so, I'd been planning to attend the Rainforest Writer's Village at Lake Quinault. I was really looking forward to it. The original plan was to arrive there this past Wednesday. When markbourne's funeral was scheduled for Thursday, I considered not attending at all. Realizing that Mark would have objected to such a choice and that my own disappointment at the idea of not attending was massive, I decided to stay for the funeral and arrive at the retreat late. davidlevine and I left for the peninsula on Thursday afternoon and stayed through Sunday afternoon. It was a good retreat. I got 3,000 new words written. (It's less than I would have preferred, but more than I would have done otherwise. Had the circumstances not been what they were, I suspect I would have been much more productive.) I made some key discoveries about the structure of the novel and have a better understanding of where I am and what needs to be accomplished. And I had some quality time to do some recuperation from last weekend's events. (I have no illusions about being recuperated, but this time away really helped.) The Rainforest Resort is rustic but the setting was quite beautiful: very lush, very picturesque. And it was good to spend even a little time with folks I don't often get to see. I hope to download my photographs today and to post them. I'll post a link when the Flickr set is live.
First and most important is that I interviewed for and got a job. I'll be working as a content specialist for the Microsoft Legal and Corporate Affairs group (LCA), helping to manage their intranet site. It's a vendor position, but it appears they were looking for someone who would be willing to make a commitment longer than one year and were impressed with me. (I was described as having gravitas. If only they knew....) I'm actually quite excited about it; the work looks interesting, and the people I interviewed with were smart and aware. It's looking like I'll be officially starting either Thursday or Monday. That gives me a few days to get my life in order before I start with the Eastside commute again.
Second, for the last 8 months or so, I'd been planning to attend the Rainforest Writer's Village at Lake Quinault. I was really looking forward to it. The original plan was to arrive there this past Wednesday. When markbourne's funeral was scheduled for Thursday, I considered not attending at all. Realizing that Mark would have objected to such a choice and that my own disappointment at the idea of not attending was massive, I decided to stay for the funeral and arrive at the retreat late. davidlevine and I left for the peninsula on Thursday afternoon and stayed through Sunday afternoon. It was a good retreat. I got 3,000 new words written. (It's less than I would have preferred, but more than I would have done otherwise. Had the circumstances not been what they were, I suspect I would have been much more productive.) I made some key discoveries about the structure of the novel and have a better understanding of where I am and what needs to be accomplished. And I had some quality time to do some recuperation from last weekend's events. (I have no illusions about being recuperated, but this time away really helped.) The Rainforest Resort is rustic but the setting was quite beautiful: very lush, very picturesque. And it was good to spend even a little time with folks I don't often get to see. I hope to download my photographs today and to post them. I'll post a link when the Flickr set is live.