No what really got in our way, or at least the excuse I'm using, is my husband's etsy shop. It began out as a way for him to make a little bit of spending money while selling fun geeky items. Then last year we watched it grow in a way that we had never anticipated. In October I had to learn some of his methods for making items, so that I could help out a bit. By the start of November every minute of my freetime was helping out and my beloved writing had to take a back seat. Black Friday was when things really hit the fan and my recently delivered two-weeks notice at my full-time audit job had to morph into "I found someone who can cover my last few shifts." That's right the shop was doing well enough with pre-holiday sales that I had to (well got to) quit my day job.
It would have been all well and good if we had been able to catch up with sales and enjoy the holiday. Instead I spent everyday, even my birthday, working 12-16 hours on my husband's shop, often staying up until 2 or 3 am. The final edits of my newest book, A Touch of Mistletoe, had to be pushed back so far that I couldn't even release it until Christmas day.
The insanity of our etsy shop didn't end there. Even our post Christmas sales were good, enough so that my husband was finally able to quit his management position at a huge corporation so that he can now stay at home with me and work on his art, etsy shop and writing.
Our small family of two went from almost never seeing each other due to me working 40+ hours a week and him 50-60 hours a week to suddenly the two of us being home all of the time. It is a huge adjustment and the shop is still keeping us very busy, but we are excited about this opportunity.
Now here's the great news for Lindsay Kiernan fans, I can finally go back to being a writer! I've hated taking this much time off from my writing but it allowed me to finally become a full-time stay-at-home writer. I'm thrilled to continue work on my next book and I have a new series that I will be starting up later this year. Check back to hear more very soon!
Thanks for the update! I've been trolling yours and Kris's blogs waiting for news. The little tidbits I get from uncle Steve about blizzards, job resignations, and Etsy sales off the charts had me wondering what was going on with two.
ReplyDeleteHopefully things are going well and dreams are still coming true for you.