Day three of the week that they went back to school again has been the day I’ve been craving for so long. The day I got things done without interruption. The day I actually had a cup of tea or even three – I even made a frothy decaf mocha coffee and one for my husband involving a cafetiere. This is unheard of.
I then actually sat in my home studio that we built last summer for longer than half an hour – 6 hours in fact – while I worked through a wandering to do list. This also included tidying up inside and out here but for once I left that where it was and go on with only work stuff. The kind of work I’ve felt too guilty doing while homeschooling. Not the articles and copy but the admin and the humanising conversational emails and the pitching for new work.
The latter has been totally put on the back burner of late as I didn’t want to take any new stuff on that I couldn’t manage while having the boys pretty much full time while Tom works on site. We don’t get to divvy up the homeschooling in this house as his is so hands on. I’ve also got more patience and aptitude for the job. Not for making endless snacks and meals though. That could be done by anyone.
Anyway, I digress. The feelers I’ve put out in only a few days have already brought in potential new work and I’m so overjoyed by that. I also managed to get a clause taken out of a broadly used publishing contract that casually sought to remove my moral rights – something I always seek to assert following great advice from the Society of Authors (if you’re a working author, do join them as you get free legal advice and I’ve definitely benefited from this service). This feels like a big win not just for me but for other writers and editors like me, many of whom do both jobs and therefore want to protect their own rights but also the people they work with.
I also finally applied to be a Full Member of the Garden Media Guild, which I’ve been meaning to do for about a year. Hopefully that brings good news too. I’ve always written about nature in one form or another – whether it’s related to health or travel, art or sustainability, or straight up plants and gardens. Now with several nature-based books under my belt and a growing portfolio of botanically-inspired features and horticultural clients it finally feels like I’m occupying my niche.
Motherhood has made this a slower process in some ways – there have been lots of times, years in fact, where I’ve had to do that step-up, step-along thing rather than the diagonal route to higher ground – but it’s also provided the urgency and necessity to consolidate my skills, strengthen my branding and express my passions. Also the more the kids want to go on the Xbox, the more I have to run away and think about plants. It’s basically a survival skill!
I was hoping to also get some seeds sown today (how does this job manage to be so evasive!) but it’s on tomorrow’s list again, urged on by the shoots of the first sweetpeas just raising their heads above the soil. If that old sun would just come out consistently… the cold, rain and wind has all but wiped out the early crocuses but the magnolia is still threatening to bloom. Hold back until the gale force winds predicted for the early hours and tomorrow morning have been and gone. I want to see cups of petals not carpets of them.
By the looks of the forecast I’m going to have to make a garden in the wind and rain plan as there’s no guarantee of any more glorious sunshine on the horizon. My mum-in-law once came over in the freezing November rain and hail to garden my borders into a semblance of acceptability for a Gardens Illustrated shoot in 2015. I’ll never forget the diligence she applied to getting it done come rain or shine while I stood there holding the baby with a cold, trying to get stuck in but pretty much failing miserably.
Those plants have since moved to new spots as most of that shoot captured parts of the garden that are now under the foundations of this studio. The various incarnations of gardens. Something to think about as I make a plan to get on and implement the current one. By the time I get round to sowing seeds indoors it will be time to sow the ones outside too. Perhaps that’s what I’m waiting for: an all out session.
For now I better go and batten down the hatches ready for that wind. The sky might appear grey but try to take a picture of it and you’ll see that that blanket grey is actually high-speed silver and white. It’s quite dizzying to watch. The wind speaks through the trees, getting louder by the minute. Time to head back to the house.