Reader Friday – Holiday Weekends

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Reader Friday – Holiday Weekends

Labor Day Weekend

Image by Hai Nguyen Tien from Pixabay

We’re heading into the Labor Day weekend. As a writer who’s retired from the traditional workforce, one day is like the next, and many holidays simply slide on by. What about you?

Do long weekends make a difference in your routine?

(For the record, our Monday celebration will be a traditional Rosh Hashana dinner with family up here on the mountain. Happy 5782, everyone.)

 

Terry Odell is an award-winning author of Mystery and Romantic Suspense, although she prefers to think of them all as “Mysteries with Relationships.”

34 thoughts on “Reader Friday – Holiday Weekends”

  1. L’Shana Tovah tikatevu, Terry! To answer your question…no! It’s all pretty much the same. I hope that you enjoy yours!

  3. Good morning, Terry. My situation is similar to yours, retired from the “traditional work force” (meaning everyone thinks you’re retired and available for their projects) and one day is like the next. Have a great weekend, and L’Shana Tovah tikatevu.

  4. Oh yes, they make a difference. I live for weekends (or long weekends). I took today off to make the long weekend longer. The intention was to start it by getting a whole 8 hours’ sleep last night, which is rare since life is usually rush rush rush (I average about 6 hours a night). But I woke up at the same time anyway. ARGH!

    Weekends I usually use to catch up on interesting/educational videos I come across, get some reading time, etc. There was a time that I would pack in as much writing related time as I could but with all the stressors everyone is under, my goal is simply to ‘be’ and relax over this weekend.

    Speaking of which, I hope everyone has a great long weekend.

  6. Also retired. My gym schedule goes from M/W/F to T/TH. That’s about it. If I don’t have time to go to the grocery store, I won’t be grilling, but, since it’s just me, that’s no big whoop.

    • Used to be yoga on Monday mornings and Wednesday evenings, until everything shut down. Monday morning yoga has started up again, so one more way to keep track of days. For the most part, it’s which loads of laundry I’m doing.

  7. Shana tova, Terry!

    I’m also retired, so every day can be Saturday, or Friday for that matter. I worked Saturdays for 29 of my 32 years at the public library ( the other three years I worked Sunday), so I don’t automatically associate Saturdays as time off. With holidays, it’s a little different. I was always off work on Labor Day, for instance. Now, though twenty months after retiring at the library, holidays tend to feel more like another day to me.

    I may be missing the family gathering outdoors at my brother-in-laws this Monday because I’m up against a hard deadline to turn in my urban fantasy novella to the anthology runner Tuesday morning, and I’m still doing final edits and proofing.

  8. Yes. Long weekends put a dent in my efforts to write. The kids are around an extra day which it’s hard to reach my quota with them yelling outside my office.

    • Kids do make a difference, Ben. Being an empty-nester, that’s no longer a problem. The dog’s demands are the same every day, so she’s not a signal of a holiday, weekend, or weekday.

  9. Holidays are no big deal around Weedview West Estates. Every week is a long weekend. 🙂

    After fifty-three years in the workforce (first job at 14), it’s quite nice.

    • The first thing than runs through my mind when I wake up each morning is, “What day is it?” Once I figure that out, I know what the routine (i.e., chores) will be.
      I worked in my dad’s office summers starting when I was 12 or 13, as I recall. I think my SS# reflects the year I got it.

  10. In my post-traditional-workforce years, weekends still make a difference. Long weekends, too. I feel the pace around me slowing down. So I tend to speed up. More writing, more cleaning up, more thinking about next projects. It’s still delicious.

  11. This year is a bit different. We’re in a hotel in NYC.

    On Monday, I want to visit the main NYC library and donate copies of my books in the off-chance that they don’t already have them in their collection. 🙂 I’d also like to see the Guggenheim museum. It’s one I’ve never visited. A new Labor Day experience.

    L’Shana Tova to everyone!

    • Thanks, Kay, and sounds like a great weekend. You can go to WorldCat.org to see if they already have your books. Getting books into libraries isn’t a slam dunk. Took me over a year (and a new librarian) for them to add my donations to the collection and not to the dollar table.

  12. I’m “officially” retired from public service and now commercially write pretty much full-time (when time permits) but my wife, Rita (of 38 years today), still works shifts including some weekends. My schedule follows hers so we can spend her time off together. She’s off for the long weekend – 3 days in a row for a change – so we’re spending today at a nearby park on the Pacific shore, and we’ll be picnicking with wine and our books. We’re both avid readers and she even reads my stuff when she’s not absorbed in the latest release by some guy named King or some gal named Reichs. Enjoy your weekend, Terry and fellow KZers!

  14. At 70, I arose promptly at 07:30 daily. Now that I’m a geezer¹, I get up when I feel like it, greeting the dawn only when it’s well to the west of me. I fritter several hours on the Internerd, and start writing, either on my Guardienne theory or my murder mystery set in 1890. I’m also currently taking a course in writing thrillers. Tea with the gang at the bakery at 13:00 on Thursdays, workshop at the library, 13:00 on Tuesdays. Life is goo² at 82. Fortunately, I still have a memory like one of those big grey animals.

    1 gee•zer gē′zər, n. (prob.fr. Sansk. ????, to expel flatus)
    An old person, especially an eccentric old man.
    2 sic. I’m stuck with it.

  15. I, too, have been retired for a while and understand completely when you say one day is like the next. My description is that every day is Saturday. If I don’t get it done today, I’ll do it Saturday. TGIF has lost its magic, as well.
    I keep track of holidays (from work) just because friends and daughters will be off that day. Note: This applies to holidays such as Memorial Day and not Arbor Day. Holidays are a convenient time to get together and plan something. My wife and I will usually reach out a couple weeks in advance. That way if they are planning something of their own, they can easily decline. If not, they appreciate that they are not being invited at the last minute.

    • Yes, every day is Saturday, isn’t it. My son’s self-employed, my daughter (the one in the US) is looking for work after finishing her Master’s degree, and her husband quit his job and is doing a little free-lancing until he’s ready to rejoin the gainfully employed again, so it’s a little easier to make plans to get together without worrying about everyone’s schedule.

  16. Usually my holiday weekends are pretty slow but this one started off on the wrong foot when I made a garbage run to Half Price Books and got a copy of The German War-outstanding reading. 73 year old rookie that I am, I have homework for my creative fiction class at the local community college and finally a deluge of guitar amps to fix came out of nowhere. So no, I’m not retired. I just do different stuff.

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