Last day before the grind

This is my last day before I pick up the grind of homeschooling again. I'll be reading up on Physics and the Civil War. I'll be installing new computer programs and cleaning out the classroom. I'm feeling terribly lazy about it all. It doesn't help that we are in the middle of a heat wave. Our house has a twenty degree differential between the basement and the second floor. Everyone is hanging out in the basement, which is where our classroom is, which will make kicking the kids out of there so I can start getting school prepped, well, difficult.
Writing has defintely become a permanent part of my routine now. Before it was easy to set aside my scribbling and get back to "my real work." Now though, writing feels like real work. I spent Sunday afternoon and into the evening working with a friend on her novel. It's so amazing to me to find that there are people in the world who see things in the way that I see them. For years, I've felt like an odd duck, not really fitting in. Now when I'm with writers I know the secret passwords, and I can hold up my end of the conversation with no desire or inescapable tendency to drift off.
This school year is the first time homeschooling will have a serious conflicting interest. I'm not sure how I'll balance it out, but I know that this is a more balanced life no matter what the case. I'm completely invested in my family, and their needs do come first, but I'm a part of the family, I have needs too. I need to write. I need the friendship of my fellow writers. I need to chart my own little course in some way. I've spent my entire life fulfilling the wishes of everybody else; writing is my opportunity to fulfill a few of my own. Expect to hear from me.