Posted March 1st, 2003 by Michelle

After three lovely days off, I was returned to work today, and I have to say, I didn’t miss it much. Mostly because I got some good writing done, one pitch to Family Circle magazine (hey, they pay well!) and also my fundraising letter for the AIDSRide. It’s a much better letter than last year, as I have a better idea of what this ride will be like, but I’m also more committed to the cause, and far more informed in general. I had dinner at the Veg City Diner on 14th, where I enjoyed a cobb salad topped with “chickn” nuggets, soy bacon, avocado, and real blue cheese. My kind of meal. I ate with my friends Allen, Carol and Heather, three fellow Saturday and Sunday lunch workers. Heather is a singer/songwriter, Carol an actor, and Allen is a writer/directorer/producer type. I read them my letter, and we decided to put together a benefit show for the AIDSRide.

Tomorrow I work a double. I’ve decided that I rather like this, six shifts in four days, which allows for the three days off and a healthy paycheck to boot. I don’t know how happy I will be Monday morning when I drag myself to work after the double, but right now, after the time away, it feels good.

I wish I didn’t have to work, like this, at all. I wish right now I could be up at the farmhouse in Hillsdale with my brother and sister-in-law. It is a terrific writing environment, lots of good chairs and good cheese and coffee and Chopin the dog to scritch when it all gets to be too much. And it is beautiful. When I wrote for Slate.com last year, I started my week of writing work at the farm. I remember it was warm enough to write outside, which I did, in a tank top, with Chopin for company. And this was some time in March… and we are so very, very far away from tank top weather.

How does one pursue a career as a writer? Sometimes I feel like these blind submissions are going to be as useless as attending an Equity call for a show. No one is really paying attention. But the writing itself is satisfying, and I suppose I am developing a body of work that eventually could be useful. I very much need a foot in a door, but which door, and which foot?