Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: thoughtful
  • Music: Anya Marina, "Not a Through Street."

Six months of the full-time life.

As of today, it has been six months since I quit my day job to become a full-time writer.

In those six months, I have traveled all over the country; I have seen and spent time with friends I hadn't really spent time with in years; I have finished writing multiple books; I have made word count more days than not; and I have slept. I have actually slept. It's hard to make people understand how important that is. I really had not been sleeping for several years. Slow sleep insomnia + things I had to do in the evening if they were ever going to happen + a 5am alarm all combined to = half my sick days were literally "I have pushed myself to the point where my body will not allow me to get out of bed." And now I am sleeping.

In the past six months, I have been seriously ill once, and that was a twelve-hour stomach bug that came on like a wrecking ball, and had me throwing up so hard and so consistently that I actually pulled muscles on both sides of my ribs. That may not sound like a good thing, but it was the sort of illness that fells whom it will, and doesn't care about your overall health. It wasn't brought on my exhaustion. Prior to quitting my job, I was literally coming down with a cold, flu, or other illness once a month. I am no longer losing my health to exhaustion.

I have to be a little more fiscally careful now, just because my income isn't as certain. I have to learn not to overcommit myself (I traveled a wee bit too much in the first part of the year, just out of the joy of freedom). I need to get better about finding anthologies, rather than waiting for them to come to me every single time, just to keep my finances moving in the right direction. But.

I am not sorry.

This was the smartest choice I ever made.

I can sleep, and that is worth everything that is more complicated than it used to be.
Tags: contemplation, state of the blonde
  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 152 comments
Previous
← Ctrl ← Alt
Next
Ctrl → Alt →

willibald

July 16 2014, 19:01:47 UTC 2 years ago

Congratulations, you deserve every zzz

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:32:51 UTC 2 years ago

Thank you.

anna_en_route

July 16 2014, 19:21:43 UTC 2 years ago

I really wish that sleep was recognised as the basic human right/necessity that it is!

I'm very glad that you are finally getting enough.

You don't find that the cats occasionally hinder this(or is it just my cat who dashes around singing me the song of her people at 4am)?

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:33:05 UTC 2 years ago

My cats want me in bed as much as possible.

jarissa

July 16 2014, 19:29:48 UTC 2 years ago

I am so happy for you! I don't have words to express it eloquently. But, to borrow from Diane Duane's framework, it's like you're rolling back the tide of entropy a little bit, and the ripples from that are going to be felt in tiny ways all over the place.

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:33:14 UTC 2 years ago

<3 <3 <3

gwynnega

July 16 2014, 19:44:04 UTC 2 years ago

Yay sleep! Yay full-time writing life!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:33:22 UTC 2 years ago

All is awesome.

groblek

July 16 2014, 19:45:38 UTC 2 years ago

Congratulations, and I'm very glad to hear that the change has been good to you!

Sleep is something most of us take for granted, I think, at least until we have to do without. It hasn't yet been long enough since Josh was born for me to forget what it's like to have to make do on way too little sleep. I'm very glad to hear that you're managing to get sleep again, it is indeed so very important.

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:33:33 UTC 2 years ago

It really, really is.

mac_arthur_park

July 16 2014, 19:46:40 UTC 2 years ago

Yay!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:33:41 UTC 2 years ago

Glee.

lexica510

July 16 2014, 20:33:13 UTC 2 years ago

Coincidentally, I was just listening to Buddhism for Beginners by Jack Kornfield. In it, he says that in Buddhism sleep is known as "the poor man's Nirvana".

Sleep, blissful sleep. Very glad to hear you're able to these days!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:33:51 UTC 2 years ago

Me, too.

labelleizzy

July 16 2014, 20:39:19 UTC 2 years ago

I started being able to sleep and to heal when I quit teaching. Coming to realize that's one of my best choices ever.

OMG to sleep. Yay yay yay sleep.

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:34:07 UTC 2 years ago

Sleep is so the best.

desperance

July 16 2014, 21:15:00 UTC 2 years ago

Whoo-hoo! Yay for a six-month-iversary. And just think, another thirty-six and a half years, you'll have caught up with me...

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:34:16 UTC 2 years ago

Hee.

_dante_sparda_

July 16 2014, 21:21:53 UTC 2 years ago

It truly is amazing what you can manage when you've actually had proper rest, isn't it?

HAIL THE SLEEP! HAIL!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:34:27 UTC 2 years ago

HAIL!

jessikast

July 16 2014, 21:27:16 UTC 2 years ago

Sleep is one of my favourite things (or maybe more correctly, being dozy and comfortable and warm in the moment just prior to sleep and just waking up), and I'm stoked to hear that you're getting lots of it and enjoying success with your career choices :-)

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:34:39 UTC 2 years ago

I am so glad to be sleeping.

autographedcat

July 16 2014, 22:47:51 UTC 2 years ago

Yay for sleep and better health!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:34:47 UTC 2 years ago

<3

anne_d

July 16 2014, 22:54:54 UTC 2 years ago

Definitely of the good, especially the sleeping.

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:34:56 UTC 2 years ago

I adore it.

pujaemuss

July 16 2014, 23:04:55 UTC 2 years ago

Huzzah. That's very good to hear - I did used to wonder how you survived when you used to describe how much you did of a week.

PJW

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:35:16 UTC 2 years ago

I was borrowing from the future to pay the past, and it wasn't good.

terriqat

July 16 2014, 23:46:46 UTC 2 years ago

hooray for sleep! Hooray for being able to do what you love full time! Hooray for quality of life getting better!

I thought you'd be amused to know that in packing books to move, you are sharing a box with Tanya Huff and Marion Zimmer Bradley. Possibly Jim Hines as well.

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:35:26 UTC 2 years ago

Awesome.

amanda_nye

July 16 2014, 23:52:42 UTC 2 years ago

So glad that you are healthier and happier! Working a regular job while writing as much as you do had to be hell, and I never understood how you did it. This sounds much better, for you, for your fans, for your cats :)

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:35:38 UTC 2 years ago

The cats are definitely pleased.

umadoshi

July 17 2014, 00:15:16 UTC 2 years ago

This is wonderful to read. *^^*

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:35:45 UTC 2 years ago

<3

neonchameleon

July 17 2014, 00:25:24 UTC 2 years ago

Yay you!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:35:52 UTC 2 years ago

Glee.

dragonsblog

July 17 2014, 00:31:34 UTC 2 years ago

Yay! I'm so happy for you. And I totally get you on the sleep thing. Sleep is really important and so often dismissed as a personal indulgence.

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:36:03 UTC 2 years ago

Which is weird and wrong.

jammiesest

July 17 2014, 00:52:05 UTC 2 years ago

WOO-HOO, YOU SLEPT! YOU ACTUALLY SLEPT!

Now we do the dance of joy!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:36:15 UTC 2 years ago

SLEEP IS ONGOING!

vincentursus

July 17 2014, 01:10:12 UTC 2 years ago

Glad to hear estimates of your lifespan can be revised upwards.

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:36:23 UTC 2 years ago

Hee.

dornbeast

July 17 2014, 01:16:19 UTC 2 years ago

Congratulations. When you said you were going full-time with your writing, this was what I was hoping would happen.

I hope that you find your balance in this quickly, so you can write, travel, stay healthy, feed the cats, save up for something wonderful, and do whatever else you have to do.

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:36:35 UTC 2 years ago

I hope so too.

professor

July 17 2014, 02:07:05 UTC 2 years ago

Hooray! I am so glad it's working out for you.

Also, speaking of paying markets for short fiction, Tor.com pays 25 cents a word for the first 5,000 words, 15 cents a word for the next 5,000, and ten cents a word after that. http://www.tor.com/page/submissions-guidelines#Fiction%20Submission%20Guidelines

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:36:48 UTC 2 years ago

Tor.com is awesome.

gothrockrulz

July 17 2014, 02:10:46 UTC 2 years ago

That's awesome! May you have plenty of sleep in future as well!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:37:03 UTC 2 years ago

Yes!!!

betedanslecoeur

July 17 2014, 02:18:05 UTC 2 years ago

So happy and grateful you can do the full-time writer life!

seanan_mcguire

November 20 2014, 16:37:11 UTC 2 years ago

<3
Previous
← Ctrl ← Alt
Next
Ctrl → Alt →