The fantasy of learning business skills and bookkeeping came crashing down when the tutor wrote the first calculation on the flip chart. Percentages are as bad as I remember, but the tutor is kind, sympathetic and above all patient.

It is a stretch to cram three courses into two weeks, running concurrently not consecutively, but hopefully, it will be worth it. I was told repeatedly that I could not be enrolled for bookkeeping before completing business skills; there was no other way around it so I have to suck it up, remind myself that it’s only two weeks and that it’s all part of the plan to be self-sufficient. Ultimately, it is about getting what I need out of the courses, and not fretting about any repetition or the break to my routine.

After the intensity of academic writing and eyebrow knitting from the complexities of bookkeeping’s dual entry system, I was eager to get back to creative writing if only for a break and some equilibrium.  There is no outlet with academic writing, so even though the daily walking has continued to invigorate, creative writing provides the much-needed release I have come to rely on to help make the rest of life palatable. The need to make sense of the world by writing is a reaffirmation that I’m doing the right things for me even though there are no guarantees, financially or otherwise.  It’s still a bold, scary, challenging move but it’s working.