Member-only story
Finding My Way as a Writer
No one else will do it for me
I recently had a bad day at work. The kind of day where I sat in my car, sobbing, calling people to see if it was rational to walk away from my job.
I ended up walking back in. But my job is miserable. I now have to punch in and out with a time clock. I feel the building is unsafe, and while I can usually handle my workload, my job is not fulfilling.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been so stressed that I came home and couldn’t focus on my writing or homework. I fell behind, significantly. And that’s not what I want in my life.
What really gutted me is looking at my old novels. Someone asked how my novels are going, and I checked on some of them. I had to move the files from a thumb drive to my new computer, and then was devastated to see that I hadn’t worked on some of them in years.
Where did the time go?
For most of my life, I’ve wanted to make the jump to writing full time. My life, my career, on my own terms. Most of the time, that also seems really scary. I’d have to get my own health insurance. There are no paid vacation days or sick leave.
Still, I would love to quit and not have to deal with commutes, sitting in a cubicle, and working at someone else’s beck and call. I’m not at the point now…
