Early Christmas Present

Yesterday morning I was determined to be productive. I got quite a few things done in the morning, but by afternoon, I had lost a lot of my motivation. I had to go out to run a few errands, including buying the last remaining Christmas present on my list and picking up some food for my furry monsters, Gretchen and Maddy. By the time I returned so, miraculously, had my motivation to work.

While I was gone, I checked my BlackBerry obsessively (as I always do) and I received two very important e-mails. The first was in response to my reply to one of the those pesky writing gig ads I always complain I never land. Well, I guess I have to stop complaining, at least for a week or so, because I finally landed one. Merry Christmas to me! It's not high paying, but it is a long-term job that's expected to last six months to a year and it's a steady $200 a week.

The second e-mail was from that referral I mentioned last week. He is very interested in having me do some work for him and he wants to meet with me on Monday.

It was great to get some good news and my motivation to work magically reappeared as quickly as it had evaporated. Hopefully, it will last until Christmas.

Blinking Light

When I was in high school (and even a little beyond) I would sit by the phone waiting for it to ring. I got my own phone line in my bedroom for my 15th (maybe 16th?) birthday. It even had an answering machine so I wouldn't miss anything. Still, I'd lounge on my bed with the phone sitting next to me, just in case my boyfriend (or someone with potential to be my boyfriend) called. I'll admit I did the cliched "picking up the phone to see if it's working" thing. Sometimes I'd even go out to the kitchen and call myself with the house phone, just to ensure nothing was wrong with the line or the number. But that's all behind me. I haven't waited by the phone for a boy to call in at least hmm ... four years.

Now I'm feeling just like that again, though. I have this light on my BlackBerry. It starts blinking whenever I have an e-mail message. So, I sit there at my computer, doing whatever work I have and searching for more and every so often, I steal a look at the BlackBerry, hoping I have a message. Sometimes my eyes play tricks on me and I think it's there when it's not. Often, I find I have a message realize it's from Amazon, Google Alerts, Ticketmaster or the Detroit Red Wings and not what I'm waiting for, which is someone, anyone, who wants to pay me to write something.

I'm sure there are many out there (although most of them aren't reading my blog) who have had the same experience. How do you handle all the waiting?