I am so tired.

I’ve been working pretty much nonstop for two months. Every nap I’ve been working fanatically, as soon as the kids are in bed I’m back in front of the computer, editing editing editing, and I’ve had to cram work time in on weekends, too. The good news is there will be money down the line. The bad news is I am exhausted, I am out of touch with an awful lot, I don’t have much cope in reserve for my daily life with kids, and I have zero down time in which to decompress.

In February I worked on a lovely little book about the arts and the Christmas story with an independent author who is self-publishing it, as well as a book for my publisher that required a tonne of fact-checking. I made an error when I evaluated the independent book for an estimate, looking at it for only copyediting. I didn’t realize until I started working though it that it required the next level up of editing, and I blew past my estimate of time and fees, ending up doing twice as many hours as I’d estimated the project would take. I felt so badly about it that I split the over-time with the author, absorbing half the cost because of my error. Fortunately, she was absolutely wonderful about it, and very receptive for the constructive criticism and reworking I asked her to do to get the manuscript to the next level. Not only that, she turned my invoice around in a weekend, and I had my cheque in less that a week. (I wish all clients were that speedy, and that positive about the editing experience!) I get to review her edits and her new material this coming weekend, and I’m quite looking forward to it. I like seeing a project through from a draft to a polished final product, and working with such a positive, open client is a lovely experience.

When I delivered that on March 1, I had a few days to myself to be braindead before my publisher sent me another manuscript to edit, this one a collection of learning activities to do with children. It’s a terrific book, and it was really nice to see some external support of the activities I do with Sparky. I handed that in last night, pulling the old no-sleep-till-it’s-sent-in thing. I am hoping for a little time off before my next project lands, because wow, do I ever need it.

My mother in law has been absolutely wonderful, coming over for a day every two weeks or so to play with Owlet so that I can get a whole afternoon of work in. And my mother came down to visit this past weekend, so she entertained Owlet and sometimes Sparky while I worked, too. That wasn’t ideal; I wanted to be spending time with her, but the work needed to be done, and so naps and nights were work time as usual, with bonus hours on the weekend days and two weekdays while Nana played with Owlet.

I haven’t blogged much this year, and I’m upset about it. I have missed journaling about things that I like to keep track of, other than my easily logged fibre stuff. I shall post a separate post about cello and children next, because they deserve to be their own post rather than shoved in with my vague summary of work over the past two months.