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Thursday, August 27, 2015

The Unemployed Writer







I've recently become unemployed from my day job. Or night job in my case. The questions from co-workers lucky enough to have kept their jobs was, "What are you going to do? Are you looking for work?" I'd mumble something like, "Yeah I'm looking, not sure, perhaps soon, blah blah blah." But then I realize I was about to live a dream, I'd been wishing would come true. The ability to write full time was about to come true. So no, I was not to become unemployed at all. I had a job waiting for me. I just had to make it pay. Yay! or Yay?

I have I been actively writing everyday since June 30? No. I had to take a moment to mourn the loss ... of a decent paycheck and benefits and even an identity. A new routine had to be established. I had to give myself a new title. I was no longer "Service Delivery Level Tech I." I now can say I'm a "writer!" Yay! or Yay? 

Now that writing is my job and I want to go from having one sale a day to having dozens I have to establish a new routine. Working nights at my previous job often meant I slept late in the day, even on days off. It meant I was sometimes depressed and exhausted. It meant my off were for resting and idling the day away.  But now I'm revived and energized. Here's the action plan for the new career as a writer.
1. Get out of vacation mode. No time for idle driving and shopping (no money either)
2. Get up early
3. Hit the books for reading
4. Hit the keyboard for writing and editing
5. Have fresh eyes for new and old work
6. Enjoy the process! 
So has all of this been yay! or yay? Well I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned that all of those moments when I feigned exhaustion and tiredness,  I was just being lazy. There's no day job boogey man to hide behind and blame for my lack of writing. Or my lack of reading. The internet is as distracting as ever. The bed sometimes still holds me until almost noon. The house isn't that much cleaner, and the belly isn't that much flatter. So now is the time for this good man to stop kidding himself. Get to work!

What does the future hold? I don't know. I fight off images of myself living under a bridge. I feel more guilty about not giving that homeless person a dollar. Gee that could be me one day. 
WILL WRITE FOR FOOD

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How I Got Over
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