Sorry, all, for my unintended hiatus here. I flew down to Florida for a friend's wedding over the weekend and threw a 4th of July BBQ party on Wednesday. In theory, I love hosting parties. In reality, I worry WAY too much about them and stress out over it. My stupid home internet hasn't been working for over a week now (ok, I steal from my neighbors, but it's not like I'm downloading movies or something, I just want to post a blog and check my freaking email!!). I'm at a coffee shop now.
I've been thinking a lot about how to respond to this topic. It should be easy-- the first question in any Washington circle of strangers or acquaintances is invariably "so what do you do?" Even before "HOW do you do?" which, to me, seems like a much more polite question than "what."
Once before on this blog I mentioned my company by name, and then it popped up on their Google Alerts, so I won't be doing that again. Right now, though, I'm in Washington working for a government contractor (I think we prefer "consulting company"). I work on Outreach and communications for a website that's open to emergency responders and homeland security officials to review past incidents and exercises and pull lessons from them for use in the future. Until recently, I was on a team of three people doing Outreach (four people, not so long ago), but now it's just me. This has given me the ability to re-work some of the actual aspects of what I do, for example, I get to write more and have passed on some of the more inane work to a different team of people. But, well, I'm not having such a good time of it lately. Sorry for you, Dear Readers, a public forum is not the place to discuss exactly why. Everybody has problems, right?
When I came to DC a few months after getting my writing degree from FSU, my intention was to hold a full-time job to pay the bills and put food in my belly, but to spend my spare time writing and publishing. It hasn't really worked out like that. Usually when I get home I'm sort of mentally burnt out and just want to veg for a while. However, once you start vegging in an evening, it's quite hard to stop. I usually spend the evenings doing crosswords and watching Law & Order or whatever came in from Netflix. Also, I've lived here for 2 1/2 years and have yet to find more writers, or at least more creative writers. I know some journalists and some other coms people, but I haven't been able just to sit in a coffee shop or on the Mall on a Saturday afternoon and write and share my work with people and talk and laugh... Man, I was SO spoiled in college. Even the few people here who have expressed interest in this are so busy all the time, as is typical with DC schedules, we never catch each other to actually do it.
So now, my job is my job, but I won't be doing it for the rest of my days. It's not career for me yet. Who knows what I'll be doing next...
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5 comments:
I completely understand that feeling! When I was in San Diego, I spent most of my evenings collapsed in front of my tv/computer and did very little with my weekends. I definitely understand the feeling of being mentally burnt out and simply wanting to spend your free time resting as opposed to "doing"
On a side note, one of my four bosses in San Diego looked just like Lumberg, and acted rather a bit like him too. It was quite an inside joke among the under-30 crowd in the office.
I didn't know you had netflix. We should be netflix friends.
I understand about the writing thing, too. Whenever I went to teach in Kissimmee, as you might remember, I was mainly a fiction person, and wanted to write a lot of stories. But whenever I started teaching I was depressed and tired all the time, and barely did any writing. It was then that I switched to poetry and got a bit done, but not much. Then I moved back up to Tally and everything was ok.
Wow, Glenn that was a great story. I guess it takes a poet to really bring a story like that one to life. "And everything was ok..." You've warmed my heart. :)
Depending on where you live in DC, there are some writer's groups that are decently productive. Although I never went ('cause I'm leaving here in a month or so), I've heard ok things about the Greenbelt Writer's Group and I know some in Montgomery County that appeal to all different levels (watch out for ones with too many published writers if you are not yet published. Although they can be a valuable resource, they can also be condescending and unhelpful). Also, they are on the Maryland side of things, which I've just found I strongly prefer anyhow.
The pace of life here is pretty self-absorbedly busy, so it's hard to meet new people for workshopping, etc., even if you have a lot in common and stuff. I met some good people for me to writer-share with at my volunteer job, so you never know. I don't take vacations, I take "writing retreats". It helps.
Thanks! I'm such a DC Snob, I hardly ever pursue things that I have to leave the District to do, unless it's specifically "country stuff" (like apple picking or tubing). It's probably time I branch out, though!
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