What’s Next

For the past seven years, writing has been my outlet. It has been a jealously guarded bit of free time that has kept me engaged, challenged, and mentally alert.

But…it’s just not feasible anymore.

I think the…uh…writing has actually been on the wall for the past two years, going back to the life-changing double-header of leaving GSD&M for Powered and, a few weeks later, welcoming Nolan into the world.  On the one hand, I was suddenly in a position where I was writing for a living, which took some of the wind out of writing for leisure. On the other, Nolan’s arrival threw a wrench into my free time, which in turn pushed my writing hours later into the evening or compressed them to the point where I’d just get going when it was time to pack things in.

Gradually, I made less and less progress. I had difficulty getting things going, and when I did, I had trouble maintaining anything resembling momentum.

And that was before Lola came along.

Between two young children and work and all the minutia of daily life that has to get taken care of one way or another, carving out two to three completely uninterrupted hours simply isn’t going to happen. Maybe in a few years, when the kids are older and more independent, but for now I have to set writing aside.

But…I still need some sort of an outlet.

I’ve seen this coming for a few months, and I decided awhile back that I wanted to do something with my hands. Something challenging, yes, but challenging in a different way from the all-mental effort of writing.

I’d love nothing more than to take on a project car, an early Bronco or an old Triumph or something along that vein, but I don’t have the time, space or money to go in that direction right now.

Instead, I’ve decided to return to an old hobby. Building models. Specifically aircraft and maybe the occasional tank.

Okay, so maybe modeling isn’t as cool as restoring an old car, but I still get to work with my hands, model kits and paints and supplies cost a hell of a lot less than auto parts, and it’s a hobby that practically requires that you work in fits and starts.

Over the coming weeks and months, I’m hoping to blog about the experience of getting back into modeling after an absence of ten years. Let’s see if that completely destroys my blog traffic…