My friend, Stacey, used to travel extensively for her job. She developed an intimate knowledge of most major metropolitan airports. She can talk about them as if they were cars she owned or people she knew.
Lately, I've begun to sound a lot like her. In the past three weeks I've been in Vermont, Quebec, Orlando, and Dallas. Because of connecting flights, I've also spent some time in Detroit and Cincinnati. Thank heavens I didn't go through O'Hare (we have bad history together...). All for business. All necessary trips. All fun, in their own way. But they add up to a lot of time spent away from my husband, my little girl, my home, and my routine.
Though I would be the first to admit that my life rarely, if ever, follows any sort of identifyable schedule, there is a definite sort of rhythm that I fall into whenever I'm' at home. That rhythm is easily disrupted when I'm displaced.
For instance, when at home, I try to spend a couple of hours each day working on book marketing ideas and leads for Trafalgar Square. I spend the bulk of my day on one or two of the most pressing and most current projects. I spend a significant amount of time online doing research and answering e-mail. And I generally write the blog late at night or early in the morning.
Travelling anywhere -- even if at a place with easy internet access -- inevitably puts a kink in the routine. If an interview is involved, it's necessary to be prepared, to be well-rested, and to be focused. Conferences are all about networking: meeting people and talking to them as much as possible. Photo shoots center around the Project At Hand. They're on a tight deadline, so all available time for work must be dedicated to the shoot, or to reviewing the results of the shoot.
The past three trips have involved either an interview, a conference, or a photo shoot. A great deal of work has been done in the past three weeks. But that necessitated pushing some things (like daily blog updates) aside.
Now that I'm home from Dallas, I'm hoping the dust will settle. There is much to do.
"Carol of the Horse" is in print, complete with an audio CD featuring the song and a narration of the text. We can't keep up with demand, so more print runs are necessary. Sharie, the gospel vocalist who recorded the song is going to be a featured performer at the International Gospel Music FanFest at Columbia State Community College August 9 & 10. We want to make sure that we've got all necessary materials for the book available for her to take when she goes.
The text for the Rider's Back Book needs editing with a fine-toothed comb. Photos from the Dallas shoot also need placed, as do the illustrations we've had done by the incomparable graphic artist Heidi Scheing.
And another trip needs to be planned to finish up the photo requirements. For awhile, we were considering having Charles Hilton (our wonderful photographer) and Dr. Warson come to Michigan. But now it's looking more and more like it makes sense for Charles and me to go to Hawaii. Really. Probably within the next few weeks.
In the meantime, I'm waiting to hear the results of the Quebec interview. And I'm trying to make up for lost time on other, daily commitments.
While I'm home, regaining my schedule, rhythm, and work momentum, I'll resume daily posts. If I end up in Canada or Hawaii in the near future, however, posts will probably pause again -- until I return home and the dust settles.
