full circle

The last month has been dominated by research and writing, not settling in. My freelance job had reasonable, even comfortable deadlines, but I squished two months of work into one due to the move. Which felt a bit the way it does when you leave a term paper till the last minute. It was interesting work, but it's a little tough focusing that intently when what you really want to do is settle into your brand new life. On the other hand, if I hadn't had the job, I might have panicked about moving to this brand new life with no money coming in and the nest egg dwindling.

The nest egg will still dwindle, though less so. My freelance writing career is little more than a nestling, unable to fly far enough to forage for more than the smaller tastes and tests of a livelihood. But it's enough to satisfy me that this can � will -- happen. A friend who reads this blog just gave me a writing assignment, this one meaty in a completely different way. Another friend who sometimes reads this blog got me in touch with a friend of hers who will probably hire me for more freelance work. And the outfit I just worked with may well have more work down the pipeline. It's all good. Interesting work, too.

Now, though, now I have a breather. I finished that freelance gig today. I hope to pay a little more attention to this site now: to upgrade to a current version of Movable Type, to finally do a proper design for this site, and most of all, to begin describing this new life properly.

For now, a picture from a couple of weeks ago, taken on a hike that's just two minutes' drive away from our new home:

The kind of woodland I missed living among scrub and brush and dry canyons.