Did anybody miss my blog posts this week? Yeah, I know -- I missed Monday-Wednesday, and luckily my pal Kelly McClymer jumped in yesterday for Pet Peeve Thursday. (Thanks, Kelly!)
Once upon a time Harry Nilsson sang a song called, "Here's Why I Did Not Go To Work Today." Well, here's why I have been a bit haphazard with my blog posts of late.
It's the Summer Of Hell Part II.
Two years ago my Dad was sick and dying and that was the Summer of Hell Part I. This year it's my mother in law who's having a rough time.
In early April, we decided it wasn't safe for her to live alone anymore. But uprooting one 96 year-old-lady from a city 90 miles away and moving her here to assisted living was a lot more complicated than we ever could have imagined. Even though her doctor (after MANY visits) finally signed off, she had heath problems we never suspected. The poor woman has spent most of her six weeks in our fair city in the local hospital. She's now been transferred to transitional care and we hope she's back in her assisted living place (where she only has spent 2 out of the past 6 weeks) by next week.
FINGERS CROSSED.
But getting her here was a LOT more work than just driving her from one city to another. She had an entire apartment that needed to be addressed. )Guess who got to do most of the heavy lifting and packing?) We took three (or was it four?) trips across the western part of the state to clean out the apartment. (And we've got one more to do before the end of the month . . . and you did notice that today is the 29th, didn't you?)
Mr. L has been on the phone for the past six weeks trying to put all The Mother's financial affairs in order. The missing title for her car (and yes, she was still driving in May) has been a real adventure. (We won't go there.)
Meanwhile, Mr. L's sister (who lives 1500 miles away) has come to visit three times. That means extra cleaning, laundry, food prep, and socializing (that's the fun part--and believe me, it was the ONLY fun part of this entire ordeal). Plus the fact I've been painting walls for the past four weekends in high heat and humidity.
Bottom line:
I'm burned out.
BURNED OUT.
BURNT TO A CRISP.
Remember those writing projects I told you I was juggling? I'm not juggling any more. Just working on one project and I'm far, far behind. I'll probably have to ask for a deadline extension (fair warning, Tom), but the other day I solved a BIG problem that was snagging me (wonder why?) and things seem to be rolling along a lot smoother now. But the blog has suffered.
I don't want to give up the blog. It's fun . . . at least when I have ideas, and I've temporarily run out of them. So I'm asking you . . . what would you like me to talk about in the blog for the next month (or two or three ... always need new ideas).
Come on, don't be shy. I'd LOVE to hear from you.
Blog when you feel like blogging. When you're inspired and it's fun for you. Authors have enough pressure getting their books done.
Posted by: Pj Schott | July 29, 2011 at 07:51 AM
I agree with PJ. If you're not having fun, it's not enjoyable for readers either. Take care of yourself and everything else will fall into place.
Posted by: Bev | July 29, 2011 at 01:26 PM
Blog when you need to share, when you need to vent, when you have something funny, sad, interesting.....but otherwise, don't blog out of pressure. We will be here when you are ready to resume and we won't be mad if you skip days, weeks at a time. It's O.K. Really. :)
Posted by: Lynne | July 30, 2011 at 10:37 AM