2012 in review

With 2012 coming to a close, I've been thinking about how busy and challenging it has been for me.  The past year has seen a lot of changes to my life: I took an after-school nanny job at the end of 2011, which impacted my freelance work schedule, and then I worked even more hours over the summer when the kids were out of school.  The result has been more of a break from freelancing than I was counting on, as I've gradually switched my focus away from writing.

I didn't feel this way as much at first, but sometimes I really miss freelancing full time.  I miss it most when I have to decide between spending my morning at the barn riding my horses or at home working -- I used to be able to do both in a single day -- or when I get really wrapped up in a project, only to have to stop working abruptly and leave to go pick up the kids from school.

Don't get me wrong, I love the family I work for, and I don't plan on leaving them anytime soon.  They are warm, generous, and flexible -- working for them is the perfect compliment to freelancing part-time (not to mention their daughter is horse crazy too, which makes them an even more perfect match for me).

But I also am itching to pick up more writing work again, and to make more time for a few writing projects of my own.  And I know when it comes time to return to freelancing full-time, I'll be happy to have entire days for working once again.  I even miss the administrative tasks -- having the luxury of spending an hour or two at the beginning of every day checking email, combing job boards, and other such stuff.

Happy New Year to all my readers -- may 2013 be everything you are hoping for!

Happy holidays!

Believe it or not... I am still here!  And now that one of my regular clients is on hiatus -- for how long, I don't know, but let's just say I won't be surprised if I don't hear back, like, ever -- I am planning on spending some more time blogging.  My blogs -- my entire freelance identity, really -- have been rather ignored this past year, and it's starting to make me feel the least like a writer that I've felt since graduating college.

Some of you may know from reading my other blogs that we euthanized our dog Grace a couple of weeks ago.  Although we miss her terribly, it's also something of a relief, as we spent a lot of time giving her medicine, taking her to the vet and to physical therapy/acupuncture, helping her in and out the back door, coaxing her to eat, and just plain cleaning up after her.  Since I work from home in the mornings (or tried to), many of my mornings were taken up with this sort of thing -- and as sad as we have been to lose her, I am actually looking forward to having a little more uninterrupted work time in 2013.

But enough of sad stuff.  Today Michael and I are planning on doing nothing together all day -- that is to say, we will be reading, putting together a puzzle, and watching some TV, not to mention getting some Asian food later (our favorite local restaurant is open today).  My plans for the day also include straightening up my desk (particularly because our 4-month-old kitten has discovered that pushing papers off of it is lots of fun) and taking a hot bath.  We have a white Christmas this year, not to mention a very cold Christmas (right now it's only in the mid-teens), making it a perfect day to stay in and read!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!