To Work or Not to Work -- That is the Question

Cheap reference to Hamlet aside, I am pondering if, how, and when to go back to work.

I NEED to work, because we are bleeding to death here. Our overdraft can only take so much abuse.

I may or may not WANT to work. I mean, when I work I have two full-time jobs. At least. And that is simply No Fun. I LIKE that when I'm not working, our house is bordering on clean at least half the time. I like that there is time for cooking REAL food (when we can afford it -- sometimes it's a box of spaghetti. Although I'm back on the low-carb bandwagon so I will have to find a way to make chicken for the price of spaghetti. Any tips, people?).

I do find that I accomplish fewer important things -- i.e. writing -- when I am not working. I know it's counter intuitive, but the less time I have the more writing I get done. These days I'm throwing in a load of laundry here, watching an episode of House Hunters there, and all of a sudden it's dinner time. After dinner I don't write, although when I'm employed I often write from 10 p.m. till midnight.

The unemployed Anna hauls her butt to bed by 10.

So, I have a few applications out, but I have a sinking feeling about them. I mean, this is a HORRIBLE job market. And I want to do stuff for which I am more than qualified but which I have not really done before. That is, I've DONE it, but not under that job title. And I am sure there are plenty of folks lining up for the job of Chief Widget-Maker who've been Chief Widget-Makers in the past.

I think in a year's time I will still be Googling for "$5 Low-Carb Meals" and making my own laundry detergent.

The real headline here is: BENJY IS DOING WELL ENOUGH THAT HIS MOTHER CAN CONSIDER WORKING. If nothing else ever comes my way I will be grateful for that.

While I wait and see if I am fated to work, I'll write. My agent and I have decided it's time to overhaul my novel, so I will devote myself to that endeavor, in the hopes that the damn thing will finally sell and bring in that twelve cents an hour the advance will be worth, after five years of working on it for nothing.

At least I won't be frittering away my time doing laundry and watching House Hunters. I hope not, anyway. ;)