KAYLEEGIRL'S BLOG

KayleeGirl

Totally exhausted or...just going crAZY?
Sunday, May 6, 2007

Yesterday morning I put salad dressing on my scrambled eggs. Not on purpose.

Yep. Had a nice little brunch set out for myself -- toast, eggs, a little side salad, a nice cup of hot Earl Grey tea. Finished pouring on the salad dressing and then went, "Huh. How come there's Basalmic vinegar and oil on my scrambled eggs?"

So, maybe I'm a bit tired. It's what we call "Rush" season where I work, which is at a distance learning high school. All the kids who are trying to graduate with their classes this year have discovered that time is running out on completing the required courses they failed at their high schools and are supposed to be making up as home schooling courses. So, the exams are piling in by the ton. The good news: overtime, baby! I get to take exams home and grade them for time and a half. The bad news? Overtime. I'm grading exams for six days a week instead of the normal five.

These are also the worst of the worst exams to grade. For example, I get all eight exams for the American Lit course from students who leave most of the pages blank or just write, "I don't know," for many of the answers. Lovely. I have to write in all of the correct answers, send out Alternate exams, and a write helpful hints about taking time to study and review, etc. knowing there's a good chance that all eight Alternates will come back together with most of the pages blank....It takes a toll doing that only five days a week and now with six -- Where does that get fun?

Ah, but that's not what's driving me nuts and giving me ICUS (inaccurate condiment use syndrome). Why is it that it's at the busiest of times that I always get the most story ideas? I have two FF fanfics I'm dying to write, a finished outline for a horror novel, and several fantasy short stories that are now on the back burner. With only one full day of weekend at my disposal, I don't have much time to spend writing. And, with the nice weather, I'd really rather be outdoors puttering around in the garden.

Of course, it just might be that I'm making excuses. Wanting to spend more time writing at just the moment when I don't have the time to do it? Isn't that just self-sabatoge and pathetically whiney to boot? No wonder our muses deliver a two-ton load of writer's block when we do have large chunks of leisure time to devote to writing!

So what's the solution? More writing, less sleep, I suppose. Guess I'll have get use to sleep deprivation and eggs covered in salad dressing. At least until the end of graduation season.

COMMENTS

Monday, May 7, 2007 5:09 PM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER


Wow...I admire your drive to get the exams done, KayleeGirl;)

BEB

Sunday, May 6, 2007 5:37 PM

KAYLEEGIRL


Thanks for the support and advice! Rush season isn't usually over until late July. Thank goodness for Memorial Day and a three day weekend! That'll give me a bit of a break. You're both right about getting some rest and I do need to be reminded about that from time to time. (My solution is always to work harder and longer!)

By the way, the eggs weren't that bad with the salad dressing on 'em!

Sunday, May 6, 2007 5:04 PM

FUTUREMRSFILLION


Sleep. Get some sleep. Once the rush is over you will have time to write!

Sunday, May 6, 2007 9:42 AM

STEAMER


Eh, well, I'd mind the sleep deprivation as well if I were you. Something tells me that when the time is finally made to sit down and write something, your mind will be so befuddled from lack of sleep, lack of down time, and lack of coherence in those exams that nothing's going to come to you. (My mom used to have a similar job, and she'd come home every day brimming over with horror stories about the collective idiocy of the papers she graded - and she'd copy down the real gems to share with us.)

So, what could you try? It sounds like what you really need is a little break hither and yon. When a story idea occurs to you, maybe just take a few minutes to write it down, or scribble out a little detail for it. Might help to tell the kuang-zhe-deities where to get off.

How soon before you're over and done, anyway? I found that once I got done with Choo Choo U. and had some time to relax and think about something besides trains, that was when my muse got its prairie harpy off my boat and got me back in the air. And, point of interest - I'm going to spend most of an impending long drive thinking about how to rewrite the last couple of WiR scenes that you sent back. ;) They's comin' together!

Meanwhile, take care of yourself. We shall hopefully be in touch.


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