I just realized I haven’t posted since Tuesday. It’s been an intense week. But I turned in the draft of The New Corner Office: How the Most Successful People Work From Home yesterday. There’s a tentative launch date of July 14th. I know, it would be good to do it sooner, but this is about as fast as publishing goes, even doing it as an ebook first. The good news is that this gives me time to think about how to promote it, both to my own audience and anyone else who might like a manual for how to productively and ambitiously work from home.
I also managed to record 5 episodes of Before Breakfast, 5 episodes of the New Corner Office, and two episodes of Best of Both Worlds (plus Sarah and I were a guest on another podcast). The solo shows are the hardest to record since it needs to be really quiet…and this house is not quiet. There was a frustrating sequence of events yesterday that involved going down to the basement three times to remind people that they were right under my office, recording one episode, then starting a second only to have the baby start crying. I can try for when the baby goes down at night, but this has not been an easy feat of late. I did record from 9:30-10:15 p.m. one night, but I often just want to sleep when the baby sleeps, as his sleep is highly variable. Two nights this week he slept what could be considered “through the night” but the other nights not. I keep hoping that one of my children will be one of those babies who goes to bed at 7 p.m. and sleeps until 7 a.m. with two long naps. Maybe the fifth time is the charm?
So…I’m tired. On the other hand, we’re making progress on a few projects. My husband and I cleaned out half our closet and I ordered a rug and a portable crib for the baby’s “bedroom.” I decided not to disassemble the real crib from the 5-year-old’s bedroom, since that can be used for naps during the day. It’s a pretty nice travel crib so hopefully that will also be useful for travel, whenever that happens again. We’re getting the basement radon levels inspected and the pump repaired so we can put the 10-year-old in the bedroom down there. (Radon is very common in these parts.) Then everyone will have his/her own bedroom (if you count the closet “nursery”) — I’ll probably buy the 12-year-old a bunk bed as we re-make that room, though, so there is a spot available for some moving around. There’s already a bunk bed in the 5-year-old’s room. This will reduce the immediate tension and then we’ll see what we decide to do in a year or two.
We are going through a ton of food. My bread drawer was stuffed to the gills after my husband’s weekly shopping trip on Saturday night. By Friday morning we’re down to end pieces (why does no one eat the end pieces???) and tortillas.
The 12-year-old (almost 13-year-old!) is writing a novel. He is seriously cranking away at a pace that rivals my own (we were comparing word counts on our books). It’s about vampires, and I can tell you that when he started this a few weeks ago, the title was Midnight. Then, this week Stephenie Meyer announced that she was producing another Twilight book with Midnight in the title and oh, there was some unhappiness. We had a discussion of titles and marketing and the unpredictability of publishing. Anyway, he’s inspired me to start doing some more creative writing. I’d like to tackle another novel too. I’ve been collecting ideas. I think this one will involve streaks (doing something every day), flowers, and collages. And a lovely stone house near here (well, something that looks similar) that we didn’t buy but that I have been mildly obsessed with. Anyway, we’ll see how this turns out. Kids are good accountability partners. (“Mom! Have you written your words?” Um, no, I was doing my paid job but yep, I need to get to it!)
Wow, that is so cool about your son. Sounds like a great kid. My 11 year old boy (almost 12) would have zero interest in attempting to write a novel, sadly. My 10 year old definitely enjoys writing way more than his brother. I should suggest he try something like that!
My 13yr old has spent several hours this week writing a mystery novel but has not finished (or even made a reasonable attempt) at his persuasive speech that was due yesterday. I’m trying to decide how much to care 8 weeks into distance learning.
Same problem with end pieces here. I turn them “inside out” and put peanut butter on the crust sides, then hand the sandwich to the four-year-old. The bigger kids are wise to this, but so far the littlest has not complained.
And in four years you will realize that soon the oldest will go to college and then you will not need to worry! Such is the value of time passing. My medical students graduated today – and it made me think again that four years seems like a long time when you are at the beginning of it, and short when you are at the end of it. So going to think about that today.
And in four years you will realize that soon the oldest will go to college and then you will not need to worry! Such is the value of time passing. My medical students graduated today – and it made me think again that four years seems like a long time when you are at the beginning of it, and short when you are at the end of it. So going to think about that today.
The room situation is so hard! We turned our laundry room into a bedroom for baby #5 (laundry moved to basement), but with baby #6 coming in the next month, we finally have to make kids share. We just moved the 22 month old’s crib into the 8 year old’s room, and we are praying that it works out! I have heard that a wide age span for sharing is better, and causes less tension.
I don’t know if this would be any solace to your 12 year old, lol, but Stephenie’s new book has had “Midnight Sun” as a working title for over a decade, so he doesn’t have to feel bad if that he didn’t “finish first.” But good for him for writing a novel! Impressive for a 12 year old.
My friend has 5 kids who split 3 bedrooms and they are constantly shifting. The two boys (15 and 9) are always together and I don’t know if they like it, but the 3 girls (13, 11 and 6) are constantly switching based in nighttime sleep, tearing apart of toys and cleaning up ability/patience and current affection for each other. It’s usually the 11 year old who switches, and never has her own room :(. But it’s also how you make it work.
Are you just getting the radon tested for the first time? It’s the hardest test – you have to keep the door closed for 24-48 hours. In my mind, if you have forced air, it’s worth putting the system in proactively. Here in OH, a system costs $900-1,100 and you have piece of mind and is a bit of a “peace of mind” selling feature. At our last house, the radon test passed when we moved in. 12 years later when we moved, it failed. Who knows when is started. But even though the basement wasn’t finished and we didn’t use it much, the furnace pulls all its air from there and recirculates it. So we just put a system in our new house, even though it passed the radon test. We only moved a street away, so knew it could happen at any time. And radon is common here too.
Also, congrats to you and your son on the writing!
You have my sympathy on the baby sleep. We’re going through a tricky patch with my 19 month old, and I’m hoping it’s temporary. Very impressive to be doing all you’re doing at the moment with that going on.
Congrats on finishing your project, Laura! Let us know when we can pre-order…I am getting my “New Corner Office” ready now!
@Phil- hopefully very soon! I think the description has been fed in to the major online retailers so now it’s just a question of when they create the pages.