I store things in my brain, thoughts, memories, fragments of stories, topics for blogging, lists, schedules. Sometimes I accumulate too much and I need to dump it all somewhere so I can stop trying to keep it in the brain space that I need to use for working, writing, parenting. What follows is a dump of random things from my brain, many of which could have made excellent individual blog entries if my brain weren’t too cluttered for cohesive writing.
There are many advantages to being married to your business partner. There are disadvantages too. Howard and I have to work hard not to create stress feedback loops. This is particularly difficult at times such as now, when we’re in crunch mode to send the next book off for printing. As business manager my focus is on the needs of the project. As wife my focus is on the need of my husband. It gets tricky when the business manager places requirements on Howard that make him stressed. I end up feeling guilty for causing the stress even though I understand that the stress is necessary. Additionally, Howard’s moods affect mine and vice versa. We are as careful to keep frustrations clearly labeled as business related as we are to keep business and personal funds separate. This helps us keep our marriage happy even when the business is stressful.
Why do they put safety seals on bottles of bleach? I’m not talking about the Push Down Then Turn caps, of which I approve, but those little paper seals that you tear off to open the bottle. I’m honestly not really worried that someone might put something toxic into my bleach.
In the last couple of days I have: contacted the printer to start the process for the next book. Sent files to the guy who prints our posters, so we can get some new posters into the store. Decided that I need more time tweaking text before I’m ready to launch another picture book project. Quickly put together a pdf file of Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic so that people can peruse it before deciding who to nominate for the Hugo award. (That will actually get its very own blog post once I have brainspace clear to do it.) Decided to delay some marketing activities until after we’ve sent OFU off for printing. Contacted various people about various business transactions and deals. Prepped OFU so that I can do copy editing. Neglected to do laundry. Managed to cook dinner from scratch because I’m trying not to spend money. Most of the preceeding took place after I spent most of Wednesday morning sleeping. It turns out that I’m much more capable and the world is much less bleak when I’ve actually had enough sleep.
It feels like my head has been full ever since school started up two weeks ago. I keep reading other people’s blog posts or comments and responding, but then I realize later that the response only exists in my brain. I never actually expressed the responses out loud. I suspect this is a function of limited energy.
And now it is time for me to pick up kids from school.
Why do they put safety seals on bottles of bleach?
Might be in case the cap comes loose; they don’t want it spilling during shipping. Just a guess.
I can sympathize on the stress feedback loops; Sora and I have been dealing with similar things in the wedding-planning process. She’s mostly running that show; since she tends to be the one delegating tasks to me, she worries about stressing me out too. From my point of view, I’d rather take as much work as she can give me, in order to get it off her shoulders, but I don’t always handle the stress well myself. Ultimately, the important thing for us has been to keep communication open, and make sure we’re talking about and working on the stress before it gets to unmanageable levels and starts spilling out into the rest of our lives.
It’s cheaper and more effective to put a seal on the top of the bottle than to provide a lid and wrapper that can prevent evaporation, accidental spills, and so on. It’s not a foodstuff but it is something that will cause problems if accidentally spilled or vaporized.
I’m always impressed by a marriage that can handle running a company together. Ours had enough trouble dealing with both of us in a small company run by someone else, although granted that was many years ago. By the time we ended up in jobs requiring we work together, we’d developed separate spheres of professional competence. We were on separate teams and one wasn’t expected to mentor the other. I’d love that kind of setup again because it was great being able to bounce technical stuff off of each other — not to mention carpooling together saved $$$.
Being able to keep the business frustration and talk separate helps a zillion 🙂
Looking forward to the next book — from both of you!
“I keep reading other people’s blog posts or comments and responding, but then I realize later that the response only exists in my brain. I never actually expressed the responses out loud.”
I do this, too! I’ve also written countless thank you notes in my head and I often can’t remember if I actually wrote it and sent it or not.
Hee! The bit about bleach is even funnier if you consider that laundry detergent doesn’t have the safety seals. Apparently bleach is susceptible to toxins but liquid detergent isn’t. >:)