I am completely convinced that time moves at a different pace when you are not working. I don't just mean for people like me who are between money-spinners. I mean even if you are working but on sick leave - time just has a different quality to it. Since leaving the Former Day Job, I have stuck pretty much to a routine. I still get up early so I can have breakfast with Steve when he gets home from work (usually around 5.30 am). Once he has gone up the Wooden Hill to Dreamland (as we used to say when we were kids), I load up the dishwasher, hang up the washing, sweep the floors, dust and have a general tidy around, just like I used to do when I was working. I even still meet my coffee shop buddies at least once a week, usually around 7.30 at Nero's. I try to avoid putting the TV on. I do not want to become a Couch Potato. So whilst I am not at a Day job, I go out most mornings looking for a Day job.
Yesterday, for example, I went to Cheam Village. Pretty little place; lovely old buildings, a few small independent local shops, nice atmosphere. Then I went to North Cheam - and we will leave that there. I looked in both places to see if there were any openings either in a Writing or not-quite-full-time capacity then had a coffee at Costa. Whilst at Costa I added to a story I started a few days ago and wrote an entirely new story for a little girl who soon celebrates her fourth birthday. I like doing that and often write personal stories for people I know - that was my second in a week! . I even read a couple of chapters of the book I'd taken with me. Then I decided to head home. I looked at my watch. It was 11.30 am. So I had done all that in one morning!!! That is what I mean about time outside of the normal 9 - 5 routine being so different! You can achieve a whole lot more! You can get back to being yourself again. You find hidden reserves of creative energy that had been mercilessly suppressed when your life revolved around getting to work on time, hitting targets, squeezing shopping into lunchtimes and generally being an employee. This is a whole new ball game!
Of course, sitting in coffee shops, writing personalised stories and adding to something else, does not bring in the bacon. But I have got two articles to write in the next day or two and I need to catch up on Young Writer stuff in time for the session on Saturday week. I proofread a poem on Tuesday that is being published in an anthology in March. And my eternal hunt for an agent has begun again in earnest.
This is my time. I deserve this!
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