Some personal news... I got laid off.

[image description: a dark wood table holding an open book and a bouquet of pink flowers tied with a pink ribbon.]

I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since I was 5 years old. At the time, I didn’t think of writing as a career or something that generated money––all I knew was that I had to write.

But then I got older and I learned that everyone who told you that you could do anything as a kid didn’t mean that. What they really meant was Be realistic. Go to school and get a degree so you can get a real job that pays the bills. Writing is cute, but it’s not a job. So I did. I got one soul-crushing job after another, first to put gas in my car so I could get around small-town Alabama with some semblance of independence, then so I could put myself through college.

I worked in a call center where I was verbally abused on a minute-to-minute basis and became suicidal. I worked at a small media startup where I was paid pennies. I worked at a small tech startup where I was paid nickels. Then 6 years ago I got a mundane job where I was paid actual dollars and although I never loved it, the perks and stability gave me the space and financial security to write.

Through 15 years of working one job after another that left me emotionally drained and creatively unfulfilled, all demanding I put my dreams on the back-burner, writing has been my one constant. It’s been the thing that’s kept me going. The moments I found to write have been among the happiest memories over the past decade and a half.

On September 1st, I was laid off. At first, I was angry, hurt, and feeling betrayed. I’d given 6 years of my life to building someone else’s dreams at the expense of my own. I put someone else’s success before my own. I chose comfort and security over the one thing I’ve known was my deepest purpose.

I’m on the cusp of 30, which means I’ve been putting writing on the back-burner for 25 years.

My first instinct upon getting laid off was to immediately update my resume and start looking for other jobs. My instinct for survival, to do what everyone has always told me I had to do, was strong. But then I realized that’s not right. That’s not what needs to happen here.

As of now and I hope for the rest of my life, I’m a full-time writer, editor, and vintage shop owner. Editing and the vintage shop bring me joy, but writing will always come first. It’s time I prioritized my writing and stop letting the demands of the world keep me from the thing I most love doing.

The two novels and two nonfiction books that have been sitting in various states of completion on my hard drive will be brought to life. The projects I’ve wanted to create for OTBS readers for years will finally be created. I started this blog a few months before I got my most recent job and those who have been around from the beginning have been waiting on me to finish a book for over half a decade now. I owe it to myself and to you to get these books written and out into the world.

And now that I have wide-open hours before me, I can finally promise you they will be done.

Thanks for your patience. I can’t wait to finish these books for you.

In the meantime, if you or someone you know needs a writer or editor for hire, or loves vintage goods, I’m your gal.