Bittersweet Beginnings

Since 2012, I have been working part-time (from my home) supporting engineering projects back in California.  The flexible arrangement was awesome -- I had time to be with my kids and deal with all the school/extracurricular activities; I had time to focus on getting healthy at the gym; I had time to keep ahead of all the household chores that would otherwise have eaten into our precious weekends; I had time to work on various writing projects; and I was still able to contribute to our household income. Unfortunately, it was not enough income.

As my writing talents have proved not to be of the I-can-make-a-living-off-of-this caliber, I was forced to accept the fact it was time for me to re-focus on my engineering career. Today, I accepted an offer to return to work full-time for a NYC engineering firm.  I really liked the people I met, and I am excited about all the new opportunities I will have to add value to the firm -- but it is still bittersweet.

I know plenty of people who have been able to work full-time and still publish. I hope to be one of those people. The bright side of a long ferry commute to the City is that I'll have at least an hour and a half of time to focus on writing each day.  This is how I plan to complete the third volume of The Stewards of Reed series.  It will be published in 2015...I just can't say when exactly.

Exercise in Procrastination

That's what I've been up to lately -- procrastination. But it has been fruitful procrastination. I just finished my side project.  It's a collection of short stories and poems that I have written throughout the years, and it is currently in the hands of a new editor (although she can't work on it for another month).  I figure that's all right, given that this was all just a big exercise in procrastination anyway.

Tomorrow my attention returns to Volume 3 of the Stewards of Reed.  I no longer have any side projects or dying dogs to distract me. I am hoping that I make some decent progress; I know I've had lots of ideas come and go in my head -- it will be interesting to see which ones survive.

The clock is ticking. My life is going to change (and not necessarily for the better) within a month's time. I need to make progress now, while I can. I have never been one to miss a deadline (even self-imposed ones), and I don't plan on starting now.