A Post By Jonathan
Holy crap! I'm a full-time writer and I'm really freaking out...Okay, a little backstory: Some big changes are happening in the Schramm household. My wife has accepted an exciting new job at a great university in Southwest Virginia, which means the whole family is packing up and leaving Indiana for good. While my wife starts her new job, I am going to be taking on the mantle of stay-at-home dad and raising our two-year-old son. That should keep me pretty darn busy, but if I play my cards right I should have time to do quite a bit of writing along the way. I'm still going to be looking for work at said great university, but until then I'm going to tell people I'm a full-time writer (and maybe, just maybe, it'll actually happen!).
It helps that I have a completed first draft (of a book that I worked on for like ten years...) at home. And since I'm leaving my very steady job with a pretty decent salary and great benefits to follow my wife's career, I think I may suddenly have the time (and, more importantly, the motivation) to finish the edits and send it out into the world. My wife and I thought about doing the long distance thing for a millisecond, but we tried that early on in our careers and now that we have a kid there's no way that's happening. I would probably lose my sanity within the first week.
Anyway, it's an exciting yet frightening time for me. But I'm so glad I have my writing to fall back on in desperate times such as these. It's a skill I can hopefully use to make a tiny bit o' money, or at least fill the void of productivity that a gainfully employed person who finds themselves suddenly unemployed will probably encounter from time to time.
So wish me luck folks... Hopefully my next post will be all about how I've finally finished editing my manuscript and am ready to query it out!
Congrats!!! Those are some big changes. As a stay-at-home mom/writer, my biggest kernal of advice is to set a routine. And write every damn day no matter what. It's not easy with a toddler, but find a way. I'm here for advice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice, Kimberly! Luckily the kid's been in daycare since he was 3 months old so the routine has been somewhat established. We also got daily notes so I think I might just "replay" them day after day. He'll never know!
DeleteHuzzah!!! That's awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary! Really excited!
DeleteCongratulations! FWIW -- I wrote my first published novel after I'd been laid off from a big corporate job. They'd given me a small package, which I figured made it ok not to job search straight away, so I wrote the book that ultimately got me an agent and a pub deal, so unemployment can actually be a great motivator. Also, as someone who's moved with a small child to follow a spouse's career, it can be isolating, but your kid can be a great way to meet people via play groups, the park, etc. You might be better at putting yourself out there than I was at the time, but I even ended up putting an ad on a local mom's site, which was a little scary but I met some really great people. Good luck and update us on how it's all going!
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for the inspiration, Brenda. Really looking forward to this new "opportunity"!
DeleteYay! I've been on the stay-at-home mom gig going on 4 years now. It was difficult at first to adjust - I think it took me a good 6 months to get used to being my own boss. I echo Kimberly's suggestion - set a routine! It will have to be flexible, but at least having one will help keep you on track. I lost sight of my routine this last year and I can see the effects of it. You've got this!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carrie! Will definitely keep you up to date on how things are going!
DeleteWhat an amazing and fabulous turn of events in your life. Events that will allow you time to write and pursue you dream of finishing a novel. Congratulations. Take this as a sign that all things are pointing towards publishing for you. Go for it. Can't wait to buy a first edition.
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