Whew.
Whew! Talk about a whirlwind. I got the job! I'm the new guide for aviation.about.com. I have some work to do before the site goes live but thought that I'd give you all a report now that I've come up for air.
Sandyc27, I think you had asked about doing prep with the kids at home. Among other things, it was difficult! Here's my story:
I was accepted into prep right before a two-week long visit from my in-laws, so I was immediately stressed about how much time I could spend with them, etc. I managed to escape for a couple of hours here and there, but i definitely felt bad. I did most of my work at night still, after the kids went to bed and the family was playing games or watching movies.
So I got mostly good feedback from my editor, who was very nice and professional. She was thorough, and made mostly formatting changes.
Phase two was immediately overwhelming for a few reasons: First, my computer died. Just died. Wouldn't turn on! I'm still without a computer now- using my husband's until I get my first paycheck or two and can afford to get a new one! Second, the amount of reading is crazy. It's all helpful information, and good to know, but it is information overload. Once I got past that, and dove into the website-creating, I was fine.
It took about 5 or 6 days to hear back that I got the job, and from there, it's more information overload! My site should go live in a week or two!
Back to the kids- I've struggled the entire time with this aspect. Obviously, a mere job application doesn't warrant full-time child are, so I used a babysitter a few times. But it's hard to get in the groove for an hour or two at a time. I'm sure you all know what I mean. My 18-month old starts daycare on Monday, so I am looking forward to getting some things done next week. It's definitely been the biggest challenge, though. I won't get paid for a while still, so we're paying a month, maybe two, of childcare out of pocket- $900/month for two kids. And one only goes half-days! But it's a sacrifice I'm willing to take to be successful at this, and still have time for my other business.
It's been busy! If anyone has prep questions, I'm happy to help. I didn't find either phase difficult at all- just challenging for me with the family, broken laptops and kids. (I didn't mention that we were all sick for a week, too!) So those of you talking about karma and Murphy's Law- you can count on getting into prep when you're the most busy. For sure!