Hi, all.

Well, I can finally report that the first completed draft of Chapter 7 of The Do Over is done. A week behind schedule... and, given that my hope had been to get everything in this draft ready to roll by the end of the month, that's not a very happy thing as far as the schedule is concerned. My arbitrary schedule.

But at least the thing is finally done. In the end, the scene I'd been dreading writing only took about 500 words, and it really wasn't that tough. I just had to sit down and do it. Grrr.

In other news, I'm going to "Campaign Manager School" tomorrow and Saturday. All day, both days. No writing for me on those days. There's a possibility that I'll be bringing in some of my mortgage payment this year by managing a local representative's campaign to retain his position. An odd foray into politics for me, if it happens, but I'm expecting this to be an odd year in more ways than one.

Speaking of odd, I was offered the chance to add another potential revenue stream to help pay the mortgage. However, it entails considering working as a contractor for a group with which I used to be a full time employee. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, as a contractor, my job's boundaries would be a little better defined. I'd be compensated for overtime. The project has a defined end date. And this is a different job from what I'd held before, and this particular work is a lot less stressful. Drawbacks abound, however, including: the scheduling would conflict with other paying projects I'm working on, it would interfere with the novel-writing (or having a life at home... one or the other would have to go for the period of the contract), and then there's the old pride problem. I'd already left once, for very good reasons. Returning would certainly feel like a bit of a retreat, even though I'd be returning under circumstances that might be more to my liking.

I don't know. Then again, I haven't actually been made an offer yet, so I don't have to decide anything, anyway. Yet. But, the fact that this has come up, along with the possibility of being a campaign manager (the two projects may or may not be mutually exclusive... then again, they might also both fall through.), and along with my growing list of consulting clients, I'm certainly experiencing no shortage of interestingness.

But I don't desire interestingness, necessarily. Time to write my novel and ability to make the monthly payments (food, shelter, clothing, and maybe a yacht) are really my two big concerns right now. I mean, I don't *mind* interestingness... it just doesn't top my list at the moment.

It's been said that life is what happens to you while you're making other plans. I look at my "SMART goals" that I'd made just a couple of weeks ago, and I can certainly see the point.