School term has been in full swing for the past three weeks, and if I were to imagine life as a rug, it feels like it’s being pulled out from under me. I’ve been so busy with my day work in secondary education that I’ve had to try to squeeze exercise into my routine before work and writing time after, while our son is still at after-school club, and then family time in the evening before it all repeats. Lately it hasn’t left much time for anything else; I have barely been online at all as I have no time to pick up my phone (in fact my story of the week has been shouting across the house, “honey, have you seen my phone?” Lol). Unintended digital detox? Yep, pretty much.
The flip side of that is, I feel out of touch with the world. I haven’t even had a chance to read the news. I don’t know what is going on in my country, nevermind elsewhere. I don’t know what has been happening with all the social media accounts I follow. I haven’t had time to do anything online. In fact, I even just realised that it had been a week since my last blog post, so I decided to throw together this one.
Digital blackout is maybe more apt.
And a reading blackout too. I have barely had time to pick up a paperback. Normally I would read ebooks in bed at night, but I’ve been so zonked, I’ve been hitting the sack soon after our son is in bed. Should I be sleeping as much as a primary schooler? Maybe not, but that has been the case for me, certainly these past few weeks.
At least my writing is chugging along: if you imagine a slow, over-loaded cartoon cargo train trying to struggle up a steep mountain slope, panting and gasping, like in those black and white 1930s cartoons, that would be the train depicting my literary life balance. I’m getting the bare minimum done on my two current WIPs (a novel and a short story collection), but at least it’s enough to keep the ideas fresh in my brain.
Is my brain fresh, though? Hmm. I don’t know about that.
I’m still here. When I’m not sitting, I’m standing, and when I’m not standing, I’m sleeping. Everything in between is a balancing act. If you’ve read this far, thanks for bearing with my rambling. I’m still coherent, for now, at least. Good enough!
Leilanie Stewart 