Sometimes life reminds us how quickly time flies – I counted on my fingers the other day and apparently I’ve been on my career sabbatical for over six months. In response to your many kind inquiries I thought I’d catch everyone up at once in the form of…

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

• Q: What are you doing with your time?
• A: At the risk of sounding like some sort of hippy, I’m just living, man. Smelling the flowers. Watching the sunsets. I get up when I want, see who I want, do what I want. Everyone should do this occasionally. I thought I’d do a bunch of traveling but after spending Thanksgiving in Hawaii I realized I was ready to spend some quality time at home. Generally I do some cooking, watch some TV/movies, do some writing, read a lot, occasionally exercise or do yoga, and meet up with friends. My two Thai cooking classes at Sur la Table resulted in my dining out a lot less. And my writing class at Richard Hugo House helped kickstart my novel. I went a little crazy with TV for a while but it’s topped off. I spent most of January watching the entire seven seasons of West Wing, for instance. And I’ve gained an appreciation for reality TV—Jerseylicious, Real Housewives of (insert city here), Mob Wives, etc. It’s like visiting with distant relatives, the kind that are fun to see for the drama of it, and then you get to leave. Oh, and I’m now a fan of leggings. Not really something I could wear to work, but I can wear them everywhere else and they are so comfortable!

• Q: Do you miss your job/Microsoft?
• A: Um, well, I miss a great many people, but I don’t miss the deadlines and interpersonal drama inherent in any marketing job. I also don’t miss getting up and going to work every day. I really like sleeping in. And working on my own projects. Or not working on them. And as I learned after my last year off, I’ll have a lot more patience for it all after this break.

• Q: Are you looking for another job right now?
• A: No, not yet. See above. The way it’s looking now I’ll give myself the full year off, enjoy the Seattle summer and look for a contract job in the fall.

• Q: How’s your writing going?
• A: Awesome. After the Offsite of One I lost a little steam. But after a few months of chilling I took up pen and paper (well, really my Lenovo laptop) again and I’ve made some headway. The story has solidified as a darkly satiric post-apocalyptic tale with a spunky heroine, Dakota. A class at Richard Hugo House helped with plot construction and day to day motivation. I’ll keep plugging away with the goal of having a decent draft by July to pitch at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference, which offers speed-dating sessions with editors and publishers. Whatever happens, at least I’ll know I gave it the old college try!

So there it is. Thanks for thinking of me and catching up, virtually. I’d love to see you if you want to do lunch or coffee sometime!

Cheers,
Sondra