Early Holiday

I decided to take vacation from my day job today. Thankfully, I'm in a position to take time off with little warning, something I need to do in order to keep sane. Instead of office drudgery, I decided to do some "housekeeping" with respect to all my writing projects.

Recently, I spent quite a bit of time organizing my Microsoft OneNote file so that all my different types of projects contained all the properly related files I've had in various formats. I even decided to break my 800 page (and going) novel into separate chapters to include in OneNote, then add a character section for expanded descriptions. I'm quite pleased with the way the whole OneNote project has turned out (thanks, Microsoft!).

So, why did I seriously decide at 46 years old to start developing a career as a writer? Simply put, I've been working in technology since 1981 and in law firms since 1993 and I've had enough. There are those lucky people in the world that get up excited about their work every day and I want to be one of them (instead of so many others who dread another day at the office). I find that I really get a charge when I write and feel like something's missing when I don't do it.

The master plan is for me to build a writing career - freelancing, screenwriting or authoring fiction - for the next ten years. Once I get regular money coming in (or even better, when I get books published or movies made), retire - hopefully at 55 or so. The wife and I will retire to Palm Springs where I can spend the rest of my life writing to bring in some cash. If things work out, we'll be able to do it even sooner. THAT'S what's so upsetting about my first screenplay being back-burnered … I allowed myself to believe that everything was falling into place sooner than planned.

I spent part of the morning on my day off scouring the Internet for some early writing I did that got published on Techrepublic.com (before they got bought out by The Gartner Group is took me off their freelance payroll). I was finally able to find all the missing pieces and captured them in OneNote. I'm trying to develop my portfolio for when it comes time to present clips for magazine articles I write.

On that note, I'll end this blog entry early. Thanksgiving's tomorrow and it will just be my wife and I enjoying the Honeybaked Ham and sides. I have lots to do between now and 2016 and I need to make the most of the time I have.

Best holiday wishes to you and your family,

Michael