The problem with having free time in fits and starts is that when I decide to sit down and post an entry I tend to get partway through it before being interrupted by something else, at which time I save my entry-in-progress as a draft. Then, the next time I have free time, I read through the draft and decide that it’s all hopelessly dated and not interesting anymore, so I ditch it and start a new one. Lather rinse repeat.
Anyway, yes I gave notice at my full-time job, and my last day is this Friday, May 23rd. It’s been pretty interesting to see the various reactions to this decision. First are the ones who say, “Ohmygod don’t you know that the very first rule of selling a novel is ‘Don’t quit your day job?’”
I can understand this kneejerk reaction. The basic concept is that it’s foolish to throw away a steady income/health insurance because of a tenuous foothold in the publishing industry. Sure, if I was single there’d be no way I’d be able to quit. But I’m extremely fortunate to have a partner who makes good money and has good insurance.
What’s in short supply in my life is time. Holy crap, but free time is so very rare and fleeting in my current schedule. What free time I do manage to carve out for writing is usually stolen from either my family or my sleep. Essentially, something has to give, and when given the choice between sleep, family, writing, and the day job, guess which one had the least to offer?
On the other hand, there’ve been an impressive number of people who get it and who’ve been nothing but encouraging about taking this step.
But what has really surprised me (and at times left me utterly flabbergasted) are the number of people who say something along the lines of, “Oh, how nice that you won’t have to put Anna in daycare anymore.”
Ummm. WTF? Since when does “Working from home” equal “stay-at-home mom”??? And how the bloody heck would I be able to write with a four-year-old running around? No, sorry to disappoint the traditionalists, but Anna will be staying in daycare and will be starting pre-K in the fall.
Then there was the person who asked if, now that I was quitting my job, Jack and I were going to have another baby. (FWIW, I’m fairly certain that the query was mostly in jest, however my response was a Quite Forceful Negative.)
So now I’m just winding down this last week at work. Unfortunately I’m kinda bored out of my skull since I’ve wrapped up my projects, and they have yet to hire a replacement so I don’t even have the distraction of training someone. Who knows, you might even see TWO blog entries this week!
FWIW, I regard it as changing jobs.
2008
you know who