I was going to write a post at my blog bringing everyone up to date on my newest adventure, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I will at some point, but as usual there’s been too much going on. What is this adventure you might ask? Even if you don’t, I’ll tell you anyway: as of January 11^th, I’ll be writing full time. (eeps)

Yes. You heard it right – I’ve lost my entire mind and am leaving my crappy job to be a full time author. I should probably clarify, since I’ve been writing full time for almost 2 years now. What I actually mean is that I won’t be writing and performing all my authorly duties forty hours a week as well as working another thirty to forty hours outside the home.

It was actually a decision borne out of self-preservation. In the past six months I’ve found myself getting sick more often and having it last longer than I can remember ever happening before. I typically have a rather strong immune system. At least I did at one time. Staying up all night to meet deadlines then going straight to work probably hasn’t been the best idea for my health. The only thing that has kept me reasonably sane is the support from my fellow authors and the amazing readers and bloggers who’ve reached out to me.

In addition to the unrelenting exhaustion, there’s been the aforementioned crappy job. I’ve been a retail manager at a designer men and women’s clothing store for over six years. I’m actually quite thankful for the experiences I’ve endured working at this job. I won’t go into the gross bodily function moments that have necessitated the use of a hazmat team, only the customer related ones. Every time a customer allowed their screeching children to annihilate the entire store while they blissfully ignored them so that they could shop – I steeled myself against the tiredness that tempted me to kick back instead of write when I got home. When the hordes of tourists would tear through the clothing – throwing it on the floor, throw it in jumbled piles in the fitting rooms or throw it at me when they didn’t like the final price – it was an awesome reminder to ignore whatever fears or insecurities I might harbor about my prospects as a writer. I pushed through. So I’m actually quite grateful to all the inconsiderate and rude people out there. Thank you – you rule!

As a reward to myself for my new beginning, I spent money. Yay! I bought some items to make the disaster area I work out of more user-friendly. In other words, to keep it from becoming a potential Hoarders episode. Check out the sweet bookcase I bought from Amazon. I might need an intervention soon though – buying now with one click is not my bank account’s friend.

But I’m super excited. Not only because I’m leaving the crappy job, but because I get to enjoy writing more M/M romance than I was ever able to do before. I’m even looking into projects that have been on hold for two or three years in other genres because I haven’t had the time. Who knows what I can accomplish? Especially if I clear off this unbelievably cluttered desk. Yipes.