I Really Should Have Learned to Juggle

Posted on November 24, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

This post is going up late because I’ve been running around today.  Things didn’t go as planned with extra errands, traffic, my son deciding to stay home instead of shopping with my wife, and laundry.  I’m still at the beginning of laundry because one blanket decided not to dry completely.  Needless to say, I’m behind an 8 ball in terms of getting certain things done, but I guess I should have expected that.

With me working, the home life has changed and I had to focus a bit on making sure my son was okay with things.  There were tears and clinging on the first day, but he’s fine now that he sees I’m usually home before he is.  This week will hopefully be easier since my wife doesn’t have to leave early for work, so she can be there for longer.  It still means my parents are putting him on the bus though, but you take what you can get.  I have to get used to waking up early and doing more than lying in bed.  Shower, Internet, preparing meals, and the like take more focus and energy than I expected.  It shouldn’t take much longer for me to get used to things.  The downside is that I can’t bike in the morning, so I need to find a time for that.  Might be evenings, which means I have to get used to exercising with someone else in the room.  We’ll see how that goes.

Some people might be wondering about the job, but I really can’t go into any details.  I am a one-on-one TA, which means I’m there for a specific child.  The specifics about my job involve this student’s life, so that won’t be mentioned.  All I can say is that I had a great first week, which was only 1.5 days.  I got most of my paperwork in and have my ID.  I known my way around the school as far as class schedule goes.  There is a sense of oddness when I’m sitting in the Faculty Room considering I’ve never been in one even when I was a substitute teacher.  We were told to stay in the classroom down in Florida.  There were a lot of names and information that I’m still trying to sort through too.  Everyone was really friendly and helpful.  Overall, I’m happy to be at this school, which is amazing, and look forward to helping kids.  There is a point where I’m working with other students aside from the one I’ve been assigned to, so we’ll see how that goes on Monday.

Now, the title of this post refers more to the writing side of life.  I had hoped to get some editing done, but that didn’t happen.  Nights saw me with paperwork or there was another chore to do.  Unfortunately, it feels like the home life is still trying to run as if I don’t leave the house and have all day to write.  There are other reasons why I’ve been hesitant to edit at night, but I can’t go into those.  Not that they turned up because other things happened to undo that side of life as well.  I might get a chapter in tonight and maybe another tomorrow, but it’s going to be piecemeal for a while.  No idea how I can write a book at this rate, so I might tackle the Ichabod Brooks short stories first.  War of Nytefall might require a summer for writing, which hampers me.  At least if things continue around this path because people still seem to think I should drop writing entirely especially now that I have a job.  Might wait another week before I bring my outlining book to work and jot down ideas while on lunch.  Well, I already brought it, but I mean using it.

Another source of chaos this week might have been Thanksgiving.  My son and wife caught colds the day before, which meant we had to bow out of a family gathering.  A little baby would be there and we didn’t want to get her sick.  That meant I left work on Wednesday to do some quick shopping for a small meal.  Grabbed the last two Cornish Hens at the store and picked up the ingredients for cornbread stuffing (not homemade), baked acorn squash, and garlic green beans.  Pulled off a nice meal and now my son enjoys stuffing and green beans, so an extra victory.  Honestly, this was the first time I ever cooked a Thanksgiving meal.  Down in Florida, we would just go to my father-in-law’s, so this was a new experience.  I will say that I had a little assistant handing me supplies and rolling up my sleeves when my hands were dirty.  Now that I think about it, this was actually the first Thanksgiving where it was only my little family.  Nobody beyond the three of us, which felt rather quaint.

By the way, does anybody see sales coming from Twitter?  Most of my tweets are getting 100+ retweets, but I’m not seeing any sign of this leading to sales.  I do a daily pinned tweet, which I think I’ll keep up.  Just wondering if there are any hashtags that I might want to add or any tricks that I can do with ease.  Really hard to keep up with the social media stuff since I can only check in the early morning and during lunch before getting home in the mid-afternoon.

Not much else to report as far as the past and future.  Next week is a full one of work, so it’s going to be the real test.  I’m not worried.  So, what are the goals for next week?

  1. Work!
  2. Get a physical.
  3. Improve sleep pattern . . . Oh yeah!  I’m going to be getting an anti-snoring pillow tomorrow.  We’ll see how that goes.
  4. Edit more of War of Nytefall: Rivalry.  I’m still trying to decide on the beta reader situation here.  Much of it will depend on when I can finish my editing.  Having flimsy confidence isn’t helping here, so I’m aiming to improve that.
  5. Finish laundry before Monday.  Maybe fire will make that blanket dry faster.
  6. Try to cook a little even though I’ve been told not to worry until I get used to my new schedule.
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About Charles Yallowitz

Charles E. Yallowitz was born, raised, and educated in New York. Then he spent a few years in Florida, realized his fear of alligators, and moved back to the Empire State. When he isn't working hard on his epic fantasy stories, Charles can be found cooking or going on whatever adventure his son has planned for the day. 'Legends of Windemere' is his first series, but it certainly won't be his last.
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38 Responses to I Really Should Have Learned to Juggle

  2. Jaye Marie & Anita Dawes's avatar jenanita01 says:
    November 24, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    Oh boy do I know where you’re coming from… and all the things you’re not saying. There are days when I really don’t know why I bother. Days when I don’t have time to blow my nose, let alone write. Holding out for some good days, as I can still remember having some of those…

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  3. L. Marie's avatar L. Marie says:
    November 24, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    Wow. You’re really busy. I hope you will be able to get your editing done.
    Glad your Thanksgiving was good! Sounds like an excellent meal.

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  4. John W. Howell's avatar John W. Howell says:
    November 24, 2018 at 4:11 pm

    I have to say I’ve been tweeting for four years and cannot say I’ve sold one book as a result. Your work sounds like it is rewarding which is good.

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  5. Jennie's avatar Jennie says:
    November 25, 2018 at 7:56 am

    Good news on the work front!

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  6. coldhandboyack's avatar coldhandboyack says:
    November 25, 2018 at 9:22 am

    I used to sell the occasional book from Twitter. None of that stuff seems to work much these days. I leave a pinned tweet up, but I’m not updating it like I used to. I ought to change it for a period before the next book comes out. Sometimes a new visual will spark something. I haven’t gotten any new words since September, but still have hope. Sometimes that’s all we have.

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  7. Nicholas C. Rossis's avatar Nicholas C. Rossis says:
    November 25, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    Plenty to be thankful about! As for Twitter, nope. I don’t think it’s ever worked for me.

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  8. Victoria Zigler (@VictoriaZigler)'s avatar Victoria Zigler (@VictoriaZigler) says:
    November 26, 2018 at 1:31 am

    Considering the combination of the first week with a new routine, and Thanksgiving, I think it sounds like a pretty successful week. It always takes time to adjust to a new routine, and doing so on top of the holidays will throw a few extra spanners in the works. You’ll get it figured out, and find ways to make it all work out in the end. Just give yourself time, and do what you can in the meantime.

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  9. Elle Knowles's avatar Elle Knowles says:
    December 2, 2018 at 11:18 am

    This was the first Thanksgiving in a long time I didn’t cook! We were at Disney with one of my daughters and two grandchildren. 4 days at Disney is a bit much!
    As far as the job goes, you’re lucky to have a school setting if that’s what it is. I’m sure your son appreciates you having the same days off he does! ~Elle

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  10. Lucinda E Clarke's avatar Lucinda E Clarke says:
    December 8, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    To tweet or not to tweet – that is the conundrum. I’ve tried the chat thing instead of the book advert but no one got back to me 😦

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