Six months of the full-time life.
Jul. 16th, 2014 09:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seanan_mcguireAs 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.
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.
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Date: 2014-07-17 02:34 am (UTC)Also, I'm super excited for the next Toby! :-) Thank you.
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Date: 2014-07-17 08:33 am (UTC)I can empathise with the quitting full-time work. I did the same thing 4 weeks ago, I'm now working part-time, closer to home, and a much less stressful workplace. I can't believe how different I feel every day now - it's wonderful.
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Date: 2014-07-17 12:09 pm (UTC)I've a couple of friends who pass me links to anthology calls for submissions; do you want me to pass links on to you if I think it's in your wheelhouse?
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Date: 2014-11-20 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2014-11-20 04:38 pm (UTC)You are the luckiest woman in the world....
Date: 2014-07-17 01:51 pm (UTC)I offer you my most sincere congratulations, and may you enjoy many more fruitful years of both writing, and sleep, and a life most joyful...
RE: You are the luckiest woman in the world....
Date: 2014-11-20 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-17 02:48 pm (UTC)I am very glad, selfishly, that you are doing well, because that means more books for me to read :-) but I am also glad as a fellow human being that you are no longer killing yourself, because that sucks too.
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Date: 2014-11-20 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-17 03:53 pm (UTC)Right here is the reason why we need to separate health insurance from employment. I look forward to your work and are glad you're now able to do it without damaging your health. (At least, more than the normal damage caused by zombies, elves, etc.)
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Date: 2014-07-17 08:22 pm (UTC)How much sleep does everyone need?
Five more minutes.
Glad you're not sick and tired - sick of being tired anymore.
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Date: 2014-07-18 05:28 pm (UTC)Also on a recent trip, I was stuck with a three hour layover and ended up in a Hudson Booksellers and found Robot Uprisings. Your story was heartbreaking and wonderful.
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