From the moment I received an offer, I was impressed at the amount of time I had to devote to getting into my new job. The stack of forms I'd completed and printed for HR before I even commenced work was about a quarter of an inch thick, and of course there is always more to do once in the door. Security has been a large part of the time commitment; the usual drug screening was the least of it. I went in for fingerprinting, and contributed a lot of info for the credit and background checking.
The first week was deadly, without a computer - but last week, once my laptop had been deployed, went frantically well, and I'm climbing on top of a big ball I'm going to have to stay on.
One of the results of all this activity is that a MONTH has gone by (!!) with no further querying. It's not that I'm "exhausted" when I come home, but I am concentrating so much on my job (and that is good stuff; I'm absorbing things remarkably well, even for me - I think!), when I come home I want to stop concentrating for a while.
Even with shorter workdays (I'm not on a flex schedule anymore - so I won't be working 7:30-5:30 ... but I also won't have Fridays off every other week!), the evenings are short enough they're going by with less thought to my OTHER career.
Today has been devoted to getting back on that ball. I've been rewriting the query, and reading a lot trying to regain some direction. As some may recall, when last we broached the subject, I'd completed my list of e-queries from Writers Market, and was about to begin the independent search. I can admit, some of the reluctance to "concentrate" comes from being a bit daunted. But not enough to quit.
My last rejections were from the agency for Sharon Kay Penman (a woman I will meet at the Conference this year; and who was very personal and gracious in her letdown), and the partial request I'd received early on. There are still a number of queries unresponded-to, but one must assume there's no iron on the fire, and commence to collecting more irons to try heating up.
Today has been good. Writing feels good - and by "writing" I have to include all the work that has nothing to do with composition. As with my day job, I find the business of my work interesting stuff. This is more personal; but I'm blessed and grateful to be able to say that each career is compelling.
Several more hours' work on this side. And now, time to get off this computer, relax for an hour or so, and get ready for tomorrow.
A good past month or so. I am a fortunate woman.
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