Unemployment & Personal Freedom

For the first time since 2005, I don't have a job.

It's weird.

I spent my first unemployed work day running around town with my bestie Rachel, who was in Austin on an overnight for her job with SW Airlines. We ate like pigs, drank margaritas, had Mexican food & BBQ and caught up. We floated in Barton Springs and gabbed about our musical projects. It was the best "first day of not working" I could've hoped for - celebratory! Not commiserative.

Yesterday, my second unemployed day, was spent coughing, whining, and making chicken soup. Apparently the stress and insomnia of all the recent changes had finally caught up with me.  I wanted to do so much with my new-found freedom, but all I did was lie around like a pile of stinky laundry (which reminds me ----).

Since I found out our local office was closing in early June and that my position would not transition to working from home (aka, goodbye and thanks for playing!), I've been making lists of everything I will finally have time to do with 45 more hours in the week.  First and foremost on my list is actually NOT finding another job, but finishing my book.

 I've been working on my little book about Texas prison bands for 2 years and I no longer can put it off. I need to FINISH it by the end of October, and my editor at the History Press has told me this it the last chance I've got to postpone.  SO.  Being one that starts projects but never finishes (with a million excuses as to why), I'm determined to do this. Now, while I have time to focus, I'm actually able to reach this goal. For once!

I'm also in school this semester (still trying to finish my degree), and I am slated to write an essay for the Oxford University Press, first draft of which is due in December.  Luckily, a couple of months ago, I purchased an all-too-helpful little book entitled "How to Write a LOT", and it's been wonderful at outlining how to prioritize writing projects and deliverables. It's behavioral and not all introspective, which works great for me.  I've been referring to it heavily as I plan out my writing endeavors. It's reduced a lot of my writing-related stress.

Another writing goal I have is to land some paid writing gigs. Medical writing, technical writing, music writing...it doesn't matter. I just need to make some more money doing this so I can market myself as a paid writer and move forward with my goals.  I'm checking various outlets on the topic but I'm still learning about it all, so it's a work in progress. In the meantime, I'm returning to blogging to hone my skills on fast-paced entries. That's why for the first time in 3 years, I'm posting an entry.

I also plan to build up my fiction-writing chops.  My love of reading fiction and my love of writing are supposed to play out into something meaty to put out there for others, damn it!  I've been going to some meetup.com groups for writing, and I plan to join others. I work much better when I have external factors pressuring me to work on my activities: band rehearsals, upcoming albums, work deadlines, book deadlines. Give 'em to me and I will meet them!

In a few weeks, when I'm about a month from my severance pay running out, I'm going to apply for the dole and start finding something in earnest.  In the meantime, I've got music to write, gigs to book, a book to write, and my health and sanity to regain.

Health. Sanity. Lowering stress.  YES. With this morning's writing exercise completed, it's time to go exercise my body.  I had a green smoothie with PB2 this morning and some toasted seed bread, so off I go for a boardwalk romp!  It's a nice, overcast day with a hint of cool in the air, so I'm going to take advantage of all the natural beauty Austin has to offer before I come home and work on all these other goals.