I love to write, but like many folks in the creative world, I had a day job too. That day job allowed me to have a nice apartment, food on the table, frequent travel, and so many other things I never thought I took for granted but never had to live without. All that was turned upside down when, along with so many of my colleagues in the tourism marketing and hospitality industry, our company laid off half of the workforce including my position and others on my team.
It’s been three months now (I know that because my health insurance has just run out), and I know I’m not alone in feeling anxious and skeptical during this experience. An interesting side effect, however, was the overabundance of time that I never had before. Time to reflect, time to nap, time to cook, and most excitingly, time to write.
I’ve written as long as I can remember. As a child I would re-write my children’s books in a ruled notebook. In my preteen years I explored poetry and used my family members as characters in a chapter story I made up based on a computer game (I would release a chapter each year at our family reunions). I cringe at the memory, but they thought it was cute. As a young adult I began crafting the basis for epic novels. I still have some of my early notebooks with pages of character descriptions and brainstorming on sci-fi creatures, maps, and environmental settings. I was worldbuilding without ever having heard the word. And I loved it.
Twenty years later, as of March 2020, I had come much further in my writing adventure. I had two viable concepts and at least half of a draft written for each, but no real motivation or energy to take it seriously. After getting laid off, that all changed. I chose one of the two stories and I wrote every single day. I dove deep into the characters and their relationships. I worked on dialogue. I nailed down the plot. I filled in all the gaps. I started taking my Twitter profile seriously. Now, after three months, I have a solid second draft that I am so, so proud of. As of this moment, four gracious souls are reading the draft to give me their critiques, two friends/family and two complete (vetted) strangers.
I can’t say how it will all turn out. My private goal has always been to publish traditionally, whether or not I’ve admitted it out loud or taken the steps to achieve it. The prospect is daunting and with all the amazing authors and steep competition, I’m nervous to even try. Yet, the fact that I’ve survived for three months without a job for the first time in my whole career has taught me that anything is possible, for better or worse. Querying agents is a tangible goal I can focus on. I have to try. The worst they can say is “no.” I’ll keep job searching, of course, staying motivated, and focusing on my physical and emotional health, but in the meantime I have my eye on the future.