Six months of the full-time life.

[seanan_mcguire]

As of today, it has been six months since I quit my day job to become a full-time writer.

In those six months, I have traveled all over the country; I have seen and spent time with friends I hadn't really spent time with in years; I have finished writing multiple books; I have made word count more days than not; and I have slept. I have actually slept. It's hard to make people understand how important that is. I really had not been sleeping for several years. Slow sleep insomnia + things I had to do in the evening if they were ever going to happen + a 5am alarm all combined to = half my sick days were literally "I have pushed myself to the point where my body will not allow me to get out of bed." And now I am sleeping.

In the past six months, I have been seriously ill once, and that was a twelve-hour stomach bug that came on like a wrecking ball, and had me throwing up so hard and so consistently that I actually pulled muscles on both sides of my ribs. That may not sound like a good thing, but it was the sort of illness that fells whom it will, and doesn't care about your overall health. It wasn't brought on my exhaustion. Prior to quitting my job, I was literally coming down with a cold, flu, or other illness once a month. I am no longer losing my health to exhaustion.

I have to be a little more fiscally careful now, just because my income isn't as certain. I have to learn not to overcommit myself (I traveled a wee bit too much in the first part of the year, just out of the joy of freedom). I need to get better about finding anthologies, rather than waiting for them to come to me every single time, just to keep my finances moving in the right direction. But.

I am not sorry.

This was the smartest choice I ever made.

I can sleep, and that is worth everything that is more complicated than it used to be.

Comments

[geekhyena.livejournal.com]

*applauds* Congratulations!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[ashabardon.livejournal.com]

Yay! All of the awesome, except the bug bit of course. Congrats Seanan!

Sleep is good :D

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That part was oddly awesome; it confirmed that I was actually living this way, not having a really detailed dream.

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I remember how devastating I found not-sleeping during the first year of our son's life, so I can relate.

I'm so glad that this has turned out to be an emotionally and physically healthy decision, in addition to being a decision which enables the rest of us to enjoy more of your tasty tasty stories. \o/!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

<3

[naath.livejournal.com]

Sleep is just the best thing.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

It really, really is.

[seabhac-mhor.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad that you've been getting sleep. I know how critical that actually is for a person's health (being that I have sleep apnea).

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Sleep is just the BEST THING.

[tori (from livejournal.com)]

I'm so happy for you. You were working way too hard and it's awesome that you can now work on just writing & music, and related projects, without having to also commute to and suffer through a day job.

ALSO SLEEP. Sleep is so important.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

America: where you can work yourself to death for the sake of having health care, which you'll need, because you'll have crashed your health completely.

[ginger]

So happy for you!! Those huge life changes can be scary, and it's always amazing when they work out even better than you hoped.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

I am so happy for you! Sleep is so, SO important.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Sleep is just amazing. I cannot imagine going back to doing without it.

[erik]

Often, one doesn't realize what a drain poor sleep is on everything until you get some good sleep. I'm so happy for you.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[wrenb.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear this! We *can* function on short or uninterrupted sleep for years at a time, but life is so much better with sleep.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yesssssss.

[beable]

*in squeaky Aeslin mouse voice* Hail the passing of the Affordable Care Act!

*other mice* Hail!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

*"Hail! Hail! Hail!" dances joyously around the room."

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Congrats! Going on 10 months here, and it just keeps getting better!

-The Gneech

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

It's amazing.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

On the bright side, you've become one of those authors who's pretty much an anthologist's dream: Dependable, popular, a Big Name, flexible and versatile, and on a first-name basis with just about all of the major players.
If George R.R. Martin and Garder Dozois haven't already started sniffing at your door, it's just a matter of time.

I know this, because I know things about how the anthology market works. I paid for my knowledge in innocence, tears, and my second best pair of pants. I hung from the tree of publishing knowledge for nine days and nine nights. :)

It is awesome that you're in a better place healthwise. That's important. :)

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

Do we want to know how the anthology market cost you a pair of pants?

[dewline.livejournal.com]

*applause scheduled in a sleep-friendly way!*

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[etcet.livejournal.com]

We (speaking as fans and others who think warmly of you) are so proud of you for doing what was both scary and brave and best for yourself, and that you're seeing concrete evidence of the goodness in your quality of life is wonderful. It will be good to have you healthy and happy and around for as long as you inhabit this corporeal dimension, sharing your wondrous terrors and terrible wonders. :-)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[beccastareyes]

Hooray!

And, yeah, stomach bugs strike us all, exhausted and healthy.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

They cannot be stopped, only endured.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Yay! So thrilled that it's working out well for you, and that your health is improving!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[aiela.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy for you!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[jesslyn hendrix (from livejournal.com)]

Happy to hear that you're getting some rest.

On the $ front, if you need more, I'm always ready to contribute to another Tip jar and/or pay for some short stories.


...just sayin'....

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ebenbrooks.livejournal.com]

That is so freaking awesome. You give us hope. :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

I am so glad.

[reedrover]

I am no longer losing my health to exhaustion

I almost cried. That is one of the best (and painful-as-history) things I have read today. Congratulations.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

<3

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[kriatyrr.livejournal.com]

I am so happy that things are better for you. Getting enough sleep is incredibly important - almost to the point of making the difference between existing and living.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Seriously. It's amazing.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

sleep is good...

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Sleep is the best.

[phoenix-singing.livejournal.com]

Yaaaaaay! I'm so glad it's working out so well, and that you're getting your sleep and your health back! Sleep is so, so important.

Hail the arrival of the sleep! :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

HAIL SLEEP.