In my first, awkward post here, I wrote, “I know I’ll feel a sense of loss” when I’m no longer teaching.
Well, I was wrong there. Maybe if I hadn’t been so busy, that sense of loss
would have crept in, but . . . no.
So what else did I get wrong?
I think I underestimated the sense of isolation I’d feel. My
husband the sailor goes away for weeks or a month at a time (note to burglars:
large son, yappy dog, and alarm system are still here), since the sailing isn’t
so great in Nashville. So I go a little squirrelly. I’m more sociable than I
realized, I guess. I need to have face-to-face human contact every day; a
friendly supermarket checker is fine, but lunch with a friend is better.
And the trials of being in business for myself have thrown
me for a loop. I can’t go into details, but I’m having a little, um, payment
issue. I’ve hired a lawyer, but they’re ignoring him as much as they’re
ignoring me. I’m starting to think that I’ll never see the money that’s owed
me. This burns me up, but I have to remind myself that these things happen in
business.
I discovered, to my surprise, that I don’t have to be as
regimented as I thought was necessary. If I don’t take Tuesday off, I can trust
that I’ll take another day. If I don’t walk on the treadmill for the amount of
time I set for myself, it won't break the habit to the point where I'll suddenly stop using it at all.
I’m still feeling out how to make myself and my writing more visible.
Luckily, my new publisher is very proactive with publicity, and I’m hopeful
that I’ll be doing more conferences and school visits when the pub date for
that book is close.
I haven’t done many of the extra-curricular activities I had
lined up. I did take a short photography course, but it was a dud. I’ve
traveled a bit more than usual, and next fall will take a non-working vacation
during the school year—a first since I was in kindergarten!
Everything else is working out just about as planned. And
that’s the important thing—planning. If you’re contemplating leaving your day
job, the best advice I can give you is to start a new file on your computer and
every time you think of something that you wish you had time for—whether it’s associated with your writing or a new activity you’d like to try—and periodically
update it. I bet you’ll find, as I did, that a pattern will emerge, and you’ll
see a form and direction of your new life. You’ll be able to step out of the nine-to-five world and into being your own boss with
a minimum of fuss.
