Tuesday, March 8, 2011

This Is The Problem With Working From Home

Today I have written two magazine articles and a blog post, been to Yoga class, been to the grocery, made a healthy lunch of whole wheat tortillas with veggies, and researched, emailed various contacts, planned and then created a detailed spreadsheet of travel plans while we are in Vancouver next month.

I'm going to take a quick shower and then relax in my comfy chair to read for a little while.

This is just about the time Tom usually gets home.

Right after I have perched in my comfy chair.

So it totally looks like I have been sitting in my comfy chair reading the entire time he has been at work all day.

This is a little annoying.

I may have to get in the habit of leaping out of my chair when I hear the garage door opening and finding some sort of project to be working on industriously when he comes in.

But that's a whole lot of work.

And I'm really very comfortable.

Way too comfortable to get up.

Guess he'll have to be OK with a wife who sits in a comfy chair reading all day.

Because in all honesty?

That actually does happen some days.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

In the past two years, my life has changed drastically. I have gone from being a school media librarian to becoming a pretty successful travel writer. I have gone from rising before the sun every day to rising when I darn well feel like it. I have gone from wearing cute clothes and cute shoes to...OK, that has not changed.

Although I do spend a substantial amount of time in sleeping pants.

And I have gone from being a person whose idea of a fabulous vacation was a beach in Florida to a person who makes plans to go back to a favorite restaurant in San Francisco when I am there next month. Who ever dreamed that I would be a person who had a favorite restaurant in San Francisco? A person who has seen the Eiffel Tower, posed in front of a windmill, strolled on a black sand beach, spent the night in a castle, drunk a glass of wine while cruising past vineyards in Germany. But I have done all those things and more in the last two years.

Change can be good.

And that is the attitude I am going to take now that I am no longer writing for The Travel Authority. In a rather sudden and unexpected move, they decided to go in a different, more professional and sales-oriented way with the blog and, just like that, I am experiencing another change in my life.

And it's OK. It's just fine. In fact...it's pretty darn wonderful. Things began happening very rapidly that made me realize that I am not just a travel blogger for The Travel Authority, I am actually a travel writer. I have trip plans and magazine assignments and offers of press trips and restaurant meals and tours - all because I am a good writer.

I loved my time with The Travel Authority. That time turned a tremulous, unsure, can-I-actually-do-this writer into a confident writer who can write sales pitches for magazine articles and actually have them accepted. A writer who can contact a tourism board and have them pay for an entire trip. A writer. It turned me into a writer.

And I will always be grateful for that.

I'm working on a new travel blog. I'll let you know when it's up and running.

I appreciate your support.

Changes. They are good things.