Four weeks in review, four weeks in view

The gap between these check-ins seems to be getting wider, which is probably a function of life being a thing that happens, but I still see a value in taking stock from time to time, so here goes.

It's been quite a jam-packed 4 weeks, largely because of the wonderful 2 weeks we spent with our exchange student in the middle period (and really, the three to four days before she arrived were heavily occupied with preparing, and the weekend after she left was lost to an exhausted puddle of catching up).

Work-wise, it's been a odd sort of period for me - some expected work didn't materialise after all, and another project that looked solid has currently gone cold on me (not replying to communications at all). This has left me in the position of actually working only for one client, albeit across two different projects / parts of their organisation, since returning from leave on 10 July.

I'm not overly fond of this as a model, even though, quantitatively, the amount of work has been close to ideal (about 3 days a week, which is perfection really). I am just at the point of starting to get a liiiiiiitle bit concerned about having too many eggs in one basket - part of my task list in the coming week will be to try to confirm if the "cold" project is now actually off, and if it is, to start casting the net out again.

On the other hand, having a manageable workload has freed me to both really get into the spirit of the exchange student process, spend time on my creative writing (ie poetry), and clear away some life administration / planning tasks, so it certainly isn't all bad. I just need to be careful not to settle into a one-client rut, both for tax and business stability reasons.

So here we are:

FOUR WEEKS IN REVIEW (17 July - 13 August)
- Exchange student visit: 23 July - 5 August. This was EPIC but as I have written about it at length in other posts, I won't say more here.
- Eldest's 14th birthday celebrations: special dinner on the night, family afternoon tea (yesterday)
- 3 x skating, 3 x chess, 3 x gymnastics, 2 x jujitsu
- Variety Night clarinet performances for 14 year old
- Heart stress test for me (I passed :-)
- 2 x lunches with friends
- 12 days of paid work across two projects
- Entered a poem in a competition
- First serious editing day on Women of Story collection
- Online Book Club  (19 July) discussing Roxane Gay's Hunger (Book was great, so was discussion!)
- Booking accommodation and further itinerary planning for Japan

FOUR WEEKS IN VIEW (14 August - 10 September)
- Projected 12 days of work if only current two projects; if third / others come online, could go up
- The usual extracurriculars each week: gymnastics, jujitsu, chess, skating
- Next Online Book Club (16 August) discussing Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
- Cake making for 14 year old's Star Trek cake
- 14 year old's friends birthday party (dinner at a hotel)
- REALLY get passport applications done!!!
- Family Father's Day celebrations (a week late to accommodate travelling relos - 10 September)
- Booking accommodation and further itinerary planning for Japan
- Finalise activity bookings for Sydney trip (late September)
- Work on Women of Story edits and schedule next editing / review session (ideally for mid-September)
- Write minimum 5 new poems
- Submit minimum 2 poems for publication or competitions