Deborah Woehr

Several weeks ago, I posted an email that I received from a friend, which spoke volumes about dealing with nasty people. It was called The Law of the Garbage Truck. I should have printed it out and stapled it to my forehead because once I posted the message, I went about my way and forgot about it.

These past few weeks have seen more stress and anxiety than I’ve experienced in a long time. I’ve been juggling two full-time jobs since I got hired for the company I’m now working for, although that’s about to change very soon. My new job is a lot more challenging than I had anticipated, which has me very frustrated right now. On top of that, a coworker I thought was a friend turned vicious on me the moment I sat down at my new desk.

That stung quite a bit. But this is what she does to people in order to boost her poor self-esteem, I’ve been told. So, now I’m faced with dual challenges: mastering my new job and deflecting her barbs. I plan on fleshing her personality out on a piece of paper for a future character.

I’m reminded of the speech that Ray Bradbury gave at the 1999 Writer’s Conference in Palm Springs. He said that he would write a lot when people disappointed him. I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately––seven chapters in the space of a month. Outside of the NaNoWriMo competitions, I’ve never achieved that volume. Whether or not it’s any good, I’ll know when I go over the draft. In the meantime, I worked out a storyline for my latest paranormal novel. Last weekend, I came up with a title.

Other than calling my mother and grandmother, I don’t plan on doing much else for Mother’s Day, except to enjoy the peace.