A note to self?

Good morning you beautiful people.

I’ve been absent for a short while. Took a six weeks holiday to spend time on the farm with family. Sal wanted to go home for part of her maternity leave, so off we went. Packed up the car, inserted Tiny T and the Woofer into said car… ‘so long suckers!’ Off we went. Six whole weeks of doing nothing, it was bloody lovely. Although, I did have all these grand plans to write loads and read book after book after book, but none of that happened. That’s ok though, I simply spent lots of time with the immediate and extended family and had a great laugh doing it.

I’ve been home about 3 weeks now and I’m sadly back at work. Now don’t get me wrong I do love my job, but it’s not the sort of thing I’d like to be doing for the rest of my life, especially now that I’ve Tiny T. I just do not wish to be that father that has has to work shifts. I want to be home every night, every weekend and every bank holiday. I want to do the school run, take him to rugby training and watch him play at the weekend. That’s the kind of father I wish to be. I’ve been doing shift work for as long as I can remember now and whilst they’ve afforded me plenty of free time, that time is not productive time. They make you tired. No routine. Days, nights and weekend all in the same week. You can literally start the week on a night shift, swap to days in the middle and find yourself back on nights by the weekend. You don’t know your arse from your elbow some days. This is what makes your free time unproductive. You just want to sit and and veg out in front of the TV. However, I can rarely do that now as I’ve a Tiny T to entertain.

A good majority of the jobs within the NHS are sadly shifts; the NHS never closes as you can imagine. That said, they are plenty of Monday to Friday roles but they generally pay less as you don’t get your shift allowance. It’s not all about the money though. I’m coming to that slow realisation. You hear it all the time, quality of life, quality of life, quality of life. And yes, money can make things easier but ultimately not happier. I’m much happier at home. I’m more productive when I’m not tired from doing shifts. Routine is king. Babies know it. New parents soon learn it. It’s time for me to get a new job. Goodbye 12.5 hour day and night shifts. Hello 9-5 life. Hello being in bed at the same time every night. Hello early productive starts. Hello every weekend and bank holiday. Hello friends making plans next month (because we only find out our shifts a month in advance). Hello life. Hello Gym. Hello blog, book and script writing.

I was speaking to the brother about this and he thinks this blog is a distraction from me actually writing something. I’m inclined to disagree but I do see his point. The time I spend writing this is time i could spend writing a book or finishing a screen play. So I’m going to only write blogs after I’ve wrote something productive. I’ve a screen play upstairs I intend to submit to the Blacklist so I’ll crack on and finish that. I’ll then write a blog / shot story after I write a couple of chapters on the book I’m writing. Use the blog by way of rest from script/book writing. A way of keep inspired during the down time maybe. I need to start though. I’m not going to get anywhere doing nothing, so I must become more productive. I think I’m writing this blog more as a letter / realisation to myself. You need to crack on. Routine is king. Build a writing habit. Get published, make this a career. Then you can spend all your days at home. You’ve been told. I’ve been told. Now, chop chop, these things don’t write themselves.

TB