On Being a Handyman
Hello, and welcome to the fiftieth installment of NotWriting.com, an open journal on how one writer spends his time when he really should be writing.
In a groundbreaking new way for me to not write, recently I was hired as a handyman by a lovely couple here in Millbrook, NY. The couple own a small estate outside of the village, complete with a tennis court, pool, and stream, and they need somebody to help maintain the place.
While I've done landscaping, painting and some basic handyman work (detailed in two of the stories in my self-published collection of stories, I Hope You Boys Know What You're Doing, it's been a while. I packed up my toolbag today with the essentials, and I'm just hoping the weather cooperates this weekend so I can start.
As I continue to wait to get the call from agents, I've made a decision that at least half of my life is now going to be spent working outside, doing things that are physical. I spend enough time on my ass in front of a computer or a typewriter or at a table clutching a pencil. I need this. I'm looking forward to doing work again where you do something and you get a result. At the end of the day, I'll be able to point at something and say, "I did that."
Projects I'll be working on include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Repairing and painting two fences
- Trimming forsythia bushes
- Landscaping an area near a stream
- Cutting trees, chopping and splitting wood (one of my favorite activities)
- Repainting a tennis court fence
- Residing a barn
- Solving drainage issues
This work will also get me a tan and free use of the tennis court. And because I'll be riding my bike to and from the place, I plan on getting back into killer shape. Maybe not what I looked like at 18, but close enough. I'll settle for looking like this guy:
What my wife wants me to look like at summer's end