I finally decided last month that it was time for me to make the big move to writing/doing writerly things full time, and while I finish out my time at my day job, making breakfast for myself on days off has been super relaxing for me for some reason.
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That’s fantastic!
Can you tell us a little more about this process / decision?
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Sure.
Honestly, I’ve been thinking about it for three or four years, but it just wasn’t the right time to leave my day job. Now, I’ve gotten a lot more writing experience, and we’re financially in a really good place. My husband has always told me he wouldn’t stop me from pursuing writing full time, so there was no barrier there. I just didn’t feel right about it yet.
I’ve been really working on establishing a sustainable writing schedule for a while, and when I took vacation time toward the beginning of April, I tweaked that writing schedule a bit more. And it worked really well after I made my adjustments. I wrote all through that vacation. Didn’t think much of it until I went back to work.
The first day back, I missed writing, home, my characters–everything about the writing life and being able to be home, etc.–that I just sat in my car at lunch and cried because I couldn’t be with who and what I love.
That was the deciding moment for me.
It was time to go.
The instant I decided to do it, I felt freer than I have since before college.
I’m leaving my day job November 1st–which, ironically enough is National Author’s Day. 
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That’s such a great story in itself. Maybe the stuff of memoirs for other writers out there. (Sorry about the almost 2 month delay in responding.)
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When I am seeding the idea for a new story, (I write Regencies and fantasy) I pull out my quill (goose feather) inkpot and story journal, and start freeform writing the new character - capturing their backstory, their present life, their attitudes and values, the things that aggravate them and the things that delight them, etc. I just keep asking, ‘and so? Why?’ and that ensures I continue ‘peeling the onion’. Another activity is doing pen and ink and watercolor sketches of characters’ bedrooms. Our bedroom is the most personal room in our house, and I think it is this room, more than any other, that truly reflects who we are. And if I hit a brick wall in my drafting, I quit my writing den and go into my art studio and just do a colored pencil sketch of the scene, or the character, and within a few minutes, the story’s flowing again. Nothing like getting the hand working with a pen or pencil to get the creative brain working again!
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I love that. I should take on again water color painting even though I’m very bad at it.
I would love to see one of your paintings.
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Thank you
You’re very talented: vivid and inspiring paintings and drawings.
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You have a wonderful eye for detail, @JKM - these are beautiful - incredible skill. Thanks so much for sharing these with us!
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Thank you for your kind words, but I fear you’re putting me to the blush!
I am glad you both enjoyed them, and I promise, I try to bring the same level of ‘detail’ or effort to my writing.
Jess
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I know I can speak about writing until I annoy even the most patient person. It obviously is more than a passion to me.
Dean Kansky said: "You know, the Greeks did not write obituaries. They only asked one thing after a man died:
"Did he have passion?"
But I can’t plot. Why can’t I plot? Probably because I am as calm as lake water.
I can’t imagine bad things happening to good people.
I can invent plenty of reasons I can’t write conflict, but it’s very much in demand in the literary world.
I am as calm as a lake
I do not want to boast, but I am in the period of my life in which talent will bump in experience and something beautiful is about to happen.
So I decided to turn my stories into meditations - since they are mainly
"fluff stories filled with nothing but pleasantries…"
Once upon a time, German tales began with
“In the old times, when wishing was still effective…”
They were folk tales, told around the fire by one generation to another,
they were full of mystery, drama, magic, sensuality, fury,
and other adult themes, and they were not necessarily associated with children.
Just like myths, fairy tales have become the foundations of some of the best movie scripts
and fantasy romance books on the market.
So I am working on a free podcast of meditations based on fairy tales for grown-ups - oh your stars and garters, and why the heck not? It feels like writing…
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What a delightful way to trigger stories and characters: Friday Happy Hour drink with friends!
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