Long time, no blogging. I know I popped in a few months ago, but for a lot of reasons, I've stayed away. Now, I'm ready to go live again. Hey, two blog posts this year... I'm going for a new record. :)
Where to begin?
I have made many, many changes in my life in the last 3-4 months. It's been a bit of an adjustment, to say the least. But I'm 100% confident that the path I've chosen is the right one. So... some of the highlights:
* After seven years with the same company--one in which I was doing fairly well, moving up in position at a good clip, making a decent salary--I decided to walk away. Yes. I know. On the surface, this was a bit of a crazy move. But the decision to leave was the right one for me. Why, you might ask? Well, the reasons are many--but it really boils down to the fact that I was letting my job, my work, get in the way of what I really wanted to do. That is: Writing. I found I could never go home and just leave my work...at work. I was stressed, I was not altogether happy with my job, and in the end, I had very little energy or presence of mind to put my butt in chair to write. Heck, I don't think I even read more than a book or two the last year I was there. Something needed to change, and after searching my soul for a long, long time, I decided to take the leap and quit. With no real plan in place, btw. :)
* I took a solid 6-7 weeks off. Hey, I had vacation racked up--vacation I never let myself use because of aforementioned reasons (i.e. I lived and breathed for my job). I spent that time unwinding, decompressing, basically -- getting out of the head space I was in. It wasn't a good place to be. I spent time with visiting family, went out to Breckenridge for a couple of weeks -- just took it easy. I did read through my MS but didn't do any substantial writing that I recall. Hey, miracles don't happen overnight. lol I knew quitting my job wouldn't put me into a writing gear straight out of the gate. Boy did I call that one right.
* After my vacation time, I took a job waiting tables. (Did I hear gasps? I know, way to use that law degree of mine, right?) There are reasons behind my madness. 1. Waiting tables is easy for me. I like the interaction with people--I have fun with it. 2. The scheduling is flexible and I can work as little or as much as I want 3. When I go home at night, I don't take my work with me. (Except for those random dreams where I'm in the weeds and can't figure out the computer system, etc. If you've ever been a server, you've probably had these) 4. Due to the flexibility, I can make my own schedule... such as working only nights, for instance, freeing up my days for other...endeavors. 5. Surprisingly, it's VERY good money. I make about the same as what I did before...with less hours, less stress, and the bonus of leaving work, at work. It's not the best job in the world--there are days I want to pull my hair out--but I can't say it's awful. It's not a permanent move, but it's a job I plan on keeping for the immediate future.
* As mentioned above, I have my days free!!! Yay!!! Does this mean I'm writing my ass off during the days? Erm, sometimes. I haven't quite gotten into total writing mode yet. Awful, but true. I've been working through WIS -- a while back I posted something on FB about the number of scenes I have left to write. Some I've completed, others I've struggled with. I would say the book is about 80% complete at this point. I've had to scrap quite a bit of it as I worked through some of the major plot holes I was dealing with. I printed the whole thing out yesterday -- well, most of it anyway -- and it's sitting at about 80K. So it's definitely getting there.
When I'm not writing, I'm doing a LOT of reading. Hey, gotta refill the creativity tanks, right? I'm trying to stay away from church so I don't spend all of my hard earned duckets, but I've been haunting the local library. Reading LIKE CRAZY. I'm really into Anne Perry's William Monk mysteries, finished off the latest from Evanovich (boy does that put me in the mind frame to visit with Maddy, Drew and Gabe!), and trying out a number of different YAs. I've also perused a few writing books to try to... I don't know, get the fires going, I guess.
I also discovered this great app for karaoke. So yep, I've been doing a lot of singing as well. I'm basically reliving my high school days. I read some days, write a little others... when the mood strikes, I sing a few songs. It's lovely. LOL.
Strange as it may seem, I haven't felt like reading the past few days. Feels like my tank is sort of topped off and needs to come out in words. So, I'm leaning more toward writing now. Hence my blogging. Hence my reading through WIS yet again and really trying to put things in place so I have a full story from beginning to end. (Viva la chunkster!) Yes, this means I got out my scissors and paperclips again so I could put everything in the right order. The murky middle isn't looking quite so dang murky anymore... so YAY.
So...that's where I am. A lot of changes. Good news is that I feel happier and better about where I'm at. I'm planning vacations I would've otherwise put off, making decisions for my happiness and not just because it's what I should do. Just generally being mindful to the fact that I don't have to do things a certain way...the expected way. I want to write...so that's what I'm trying to do. One of my new sayings puts it perfectly:
Don't dream your life.
Live your dream.
BOOM.
Hope all is well with everyone! Stop by and say hello if you're around. :)
