As one of two managers in a store normally designed around three to four, this time of year has been… draining. I worked a regular shift on Monday, open to close today and open to close again tomorrow. Also this week is my girlfriend’s birthday (If you’re reading this, Happy Birthday gorgeous!) so all in all, not the best week for writing… or sleeping… or simply being aware of my surroundings.
I felt like I needed a vacation before we did stocktake in May, but I held off in order to help prepare for the big event. I was trying to coordinate it with a fellow manager when suddenly things shifted and he ended up heading to another store and was never replaced. Now it has been an extra month and I’m dragging. I’m struggling to maintain my positivity as I feel exhausted, overworked and a bit scrutinised. I’m going to put in for two weeks regardless in the new financial year, but it’s starting to make sense as to why my boss has so many weeks of holidays built up.
The story for my submission to Platform for Prose hasn’t gone as well as I hoped and I’m sincerely not happy with it. It clocks in at just shy of five thousand words and if editing it doesn’t help then it’ll be scrapped and a new story written on Friday. I’ve been trying to write a bit out of my element lately in regards to short stories in the hopes that my skill for my regular fare will be a bit better. The last short story I wrote, Not Unlike The Phoenix, was not focused around dialogue between characters like in my novels. The trouble I have is merging description with dialogue. When I am talking to someone in reality, I’m making eye contact and possibly motioning with my hands and moving from side to side as I shift my stance. I don’t feel as though people are always examining their surroundings, especially if a conversation is heated or about life and death situations.
As for editing… well, until the end of the month that has taken a backseat. It’s hard knowing I have a novel completed and all I have to do now is spit shine it and I could possibly tick Published Author off the old bucket list. What’s even worse is knowing that I’m halfway through writing an even better novel. Must somehow finish one at a time… damn.
Finally Father’s Day just sped past back in Canada. My Dad passed away nearly five years ago now (hard to believe really) and the hardest part for me is not sharing all of my good news with him. So much has changed since he passed away. I moved to Australia. I travelled all over Europe. I bought a home. I visited his brother in Japan. I have two dogs. I wrote a novel. I’ve bought land with my partner and am planning on building a house. I know he’d be proud of me, proud of what and who I’d become. I can only give him that now as his legacy and do my best to honour the good old Edwards name. As if there’s not enough people with that surname though!
Hopefully out there you’re finding the time to write and edit, good luck and take care! Oh! Let me know if you’re planning on doing Camp NaNoWriMo! Maybe we could hold each other accountable!