Working From Home

work to do - small

We never know what change is coming at us.

Two months after my last post, Hurricane Matthew looked like he was going to grind up the entire Florida coast as a Cat 4. I dashed away from my out-of-town gig to rush home and evacuate my parents. Two hours into my five hour drive south I got a call from my boss saying, sorry, but we’re going to have to replace you immediately. We’ll get you back in here ASAP once your family responsibilities are complete. I said, OK, no problem. This is life as a storm adjuster who also lives in a hurricane prone state.

Can’t be everywhere at once.

One hour later – still rushing south – phone rings again. Different company asking me if I am available to lead an in-office storm team – right in my own home town! Oh, yes! How’s that for timing? Maybe God is in control?

That gig didn’t last long but segued into another also in my home town. Whew. Good thing too because by then I needed to attend all parental medical appointments, etc. Working out of town is no longer an option.

Fast forward one year. Hurricane Irma is coming and another out-of-the-blue call – offering me to:

WORK FROM HOME! 

Woot!!! Woot!!! World’s Biggest Woot!

The hours were brutal but completely flexible – allowing me to work as much as 77 hours/week while still getting my parents to appointments and walking their new dog. (Hah, that’s another post).

But, after ten months of that pace, I’d had enough. I took the slower summer season as the chance to change my Day Job. We’d been praying that this opportunity would come and it did. Same industry, different role. Still work from home. Still completely flexible hours – just a lot less of them and less emotionally draining.

I LOVE my Day Job!

And, since work is slow right now, I am still catching up on all sorts of things that were neglected: INCLUDING MY NOVEL! (See my writing blog update HERE.)

FIRST DRAFT = DONE!

 It’s been two+ years of hard work and sudden changes. I am thankful for the grace of God which continues to strengthen me for each step and allows me to face the future with peace – having seen His hand so clearly at work in the past.

2019 is going to be challenging in endless ways but when I can make myself stop and remember His past blessings, I can face the next round of the whirlwind.

Road Kill

Photo by Nicolas Mirguet

Photo by Nicolas Mirguet – – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

In 2012, I spent a few days at a writers’ conference participating in a critique group guided by mystery writer Ken Kuhlken. His most recent newsletter offered his readers a free Smashwords download of the short work Road Kill, Mystery Authors on the Book Signing Circuit. So I grabbed my copy and tagged along (all 40 pages) as Ken and his touring buddy, Alan Russell, endured the indignities of cheap hotels and empty bookstores, all for a few hard copy sales of their mystery novels. The nightmarish experience is redeemed by the writers’ ruthlessly honest, sarcastic wit.

As my mother would say, “may as well laugh as cry”.

Recommended for a cold splash of reality and biting humor. You can read it in one sitting.

(On my blog Long Ago and Far Away, I have recently explained why I am no longer writing formal book reviews. I do reserve the right to comment on my current reading and so – there you have it. No starred reviews – just commentary and random responses.)