Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to
share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of
appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer
assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG
is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank
you to April co-hosts: Jennifer
Lane, L Diane Wolfe, Jenni Enzor, and Natalie Aguirre. For
links to all contributors, click here.
This month’s optional question: What fantasy
character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of
wine with?
I’m not big into fantasy so this question isn’t my
bailiwick, but a butter beer with Hermione Granger might be kind of fun.
So, writing related. No. Sorry. Life related.
This week marks a new era for me.
I started this blog to deal with the emotional fallout
related to unexpected job elimination from a long-term employer. Middle Passages
led to some freelance writing and one of my freelance jobs resulted in an offer
of a position for my town council on aging. When I accepted it I promised
myself I’d keep writing, no matter what. I’m proud to have done that, getting
up at 5:30 in the morning, five days a week to spend an hour writing before
work. But on Friday April 4, I’ll be turning my alarm off permanently. At
noon that day, I’ll be officially retired.
I let out a long breath as I typed that last sentence.
Being used to so much structure in my life, I’m not
sure what shape unlimited free time will take, but I hope I’ll buckle down and
focus on getting one of my darn books published. Over the last year while
working on a revision for book #4 as well as one for book #2, I stopped doing
anything query related. It left me disheartened and it was hard to write and
query while working and keeping up a home, pretty-much singlehandedly.
I’m honest enough to recognize that other people find a way
to do it all. I however, have not.
That says something, and I know it. With all the time in the world, I wonder if I’ll call my own bluff and dedicate my energy toward publication. If anything, I’d love to shut off that nasty voice in my brain that says, “It’s not that you didn’t make time. You’re just not good enough.”
In the meantime, I do have one plan for early retirement. Fifteen years ago I
worked through the lessons in The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, which I’ve referred to so many times here in Middle Passages. Between morning pages,
artist’s dates and the weekly lessons, I determined my future course. Without The
Artist’s Way, I’m pretty sure my four novels would never have been written.
The book sits on my bookshelf with other treasured reading. After
a vacation down south to clear my head, I plan to open it up again.
