Sunday, May 01, 2016

Grades are in.

I turned in all my grades late yesterday evening. There are still a bunch of meetings scheduled for next week. I’m on two late job search committees. There’s graduation and a few lingering research proposals to evaluate. But after May 10 I should be largely free for a couple of months to do my own thing.

I have a lot of writing plans and even though I’ll be officially out of school, I’ll still have to zealously protect my writing time.  Very few respect it. Everyone seems to think that since you’re off of your day job that you won’t mind giving up a morning for this, or an afternoon for that. I do mind. I have a second job. That’s how I treat it. A summer job that I take just as seriously as my other one, even though it doesn’t pay nearly as well.

Although I write a little bit most days all year around, summers and Christmas break are where 75% of my most productive writing gets done. These are the times when books are finished, collections put together, and materials are finalized into what I hope are publishable forms.


Those days are finally coming for me, and it’s time to seize them. 

11 comments:

Cloudia said...

You made it to the promised land. And that's SO great about Lana's medical news

Charles Gramlich said...

Cloudia, yes that is very fine news.

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

I agree, Charles. There is so much to do outside of one's job. I wish it'd all pay.

Sarah Hina said...

Enjoy your writing time, Charles. I know what you mean about people treating it as a hobby. It's not, and people who know you should respect that.

Oscar Case said...

If I could only convince my wife of that, Charles. God luck with the writing.

Charles Gramlich said...

Prashant, that would be nice.

Sarah, unfortunately, folks are all too often happy to spend your time for their needs.

Oscar, indeed

sage said...

Enjoy your summer!

the walking man said...

Tune out, drop off and unplug. Disconnect from phones, television, and the ability of them who would distract you to connect to you and soon enough (trust me on this) they will forget you exist.

Charles Gramlich said...

Sage, roger wilco

Mark, out of sight, out of mind

pattinase (abbott) said...

Hoping for a productive summer for you!

Charles Gramlich said...

Patti, thankee