When will it end?  Ha!  Even I don’t know that answer.

It is now April 10.  My last day of work was March 24.  Without serious contemplation I will consider work no sooner than May 1, and with serious contemplation that response extends to June 1.  Can I give a solid answer right now as to when I might consider gainful employment so that I might make money while I focus on my writing?  Absolutely not.  Do I care or am I worried?  No to both.

Utilizing several resources for budding writers like myself, some suggested by Mom, it remains a distinct possibility that I will begin making money from my writing in the next month or two.  I have not discounted that possibility, although I remain skeptical and realistic about it.  I think and hope that I will be able to utilize my writing for monetary gain.  I suspect and am planning based on the assumption that it will not equal my previous employment income — at least not quickly.

In the meantime, I have things to do.  Assuming a great many things, here is some of what’s on my plate for the near future.

• » In the next several weeks to several months: work on getting published in magazines, journals and other periodicals.
• » During the first week of May: dog- and house-sit for Rick while he is out of town.  Taking care of Wylie is something I love to do.
• » In the next few weeks: replace my passport.
• » In the next several days: take my copies of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot to xocobra and LD, and setup new web sites for xocobra and Mom respectively.
• » In the next four to eight weeks: go to Amsterdam with Rick.  We both want to go; we both want to go with each other.  If everything else works out, we will go in the near future to enjoy time with each other while taking in the experience of The Netherlands.
• » In the foreseeable future: continue to catch up visiting with friends and family.
• » Not temporally restricted: work on book ideas and manuscripts.
• » Today: get cat food, clean the cat boxes, send in my amended tax return, do the laundry, do some reading and writing, fix some linking issues on the site, spend time with The Kids, begin evaluating new all-in-ones (printer/fax machine/copier/scanner), and get a new microwave.

I admit all the excitement drains out once you get to that last one, but the mechanics of living don’t take care of themselves no matter how much I wish they would.