Back to Reality: Insights from a WPF Newbie

It's Thursday morning and I am still having trouble believing that I have been back from Seton Hill for 4 days. How is that possible? Or perhaps the more interesting question is why do I miss it so much? It's been hard to get back into my regular routine. I work from home and suddenly the house feels to quiet, to confining. I want to be creative and yet my projects feel stilted, the tasks not as interesting as they used to be.  And yet there is so much to do. This never ending list of projects, tasks, chores, and now school work. It doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day.  Still I know that right now, this is my reality. I should embrace it, or at least try to. When I figure out the secret, I will let you know!

For the time being here is what I have already learned.

1. Do all the SHU Critiques prior to the residency. It sucks to have to find time during them to review people's work.
2. Take the day before off for travel. By that I mean, the day orientation starts, at 7 PM, take it off because travel always takes more time than you think. 
3. Take the day after off for recovery. Although to be honest, I wasn't so much exhausted as I was desperate to test out all the new things that I learned. I wanted to dive right into my writing, instead I got to dive right into conference calls and problems that occurred at work during my vacation.  I think part of my frustration stems from not being able to drown in my fictional world for a while.
4. Explain to people what a residency is. They don't know.  Most of my co-workers think I was at a conference, lounging around poolside, and that I was back home by Friday. Even the ones I took the time to explain it to never seem to remember.  Oh well. 

So those are my immediate reflections thus far. Most important for me, I think is taking time off to ease back into to work, to settle into my new routine, and to find that balance. Right now I have no balance and little motivation as a result to do anything, including write or edit. But I have a long weekend coming up and I am hoping that will do the trick.