Silver lining?

Despite all the poo connected with having to switch departments at work I am now looking on the bright side. While my pay cut suck (I'm talking nearly a 30% cut in pay), it could be worse pay for the work I do.Honestly for the most part, I usually enjoy what I do.  I get to sit in an office and most days have very little human interaction besides the couple of co-workers, my boss, and occasionally her boss. Sometimes I get  pissed off, but usually my work days are not too bad.

Before my current role I did several months as a supervisor, which I did like, but it consumed my life. I was easily working 50 + hours, rarely taking lunch or breaks (except for the occasional potty break which even then was hard to come by). When I wasn't at work, I was worried about work.

And suddenly I wondered why I had no energy to write anything. Or just do some leisurely reading. While I can't blame everything on work, I can say this was a big reason I fell off the face of the blogosphere and twitterverse.

Where I am now at work, I generally only work my 40 hours. I get my hour lunch, and I take my breaks. When I go home,  I am home and my mind is free to think about other things.  Not all the stress in my life is gone, but I am able  to get back to what really matters.

First and foremost, my family.
Secondly, my writing (Hell, I even have time to read again!)

And thirdly, I am sorry but I have to add it... roller derby is also a big part of my life right now. (Got to keep myself physically fit and this certainly does the job!)

I am doing my best to bounce back with everything and look on the bright side.

Sure my work schedule generally isn't ideal, I rarely ever get a weekend night off or even 2 consecutive days. But on the bright side, I am usually home during one week day which allows me to be alone to work on things such as writing. Also working late nights on the weekend, things are generally slow and it affords me some time to work on ... you guessed it ...WRITING!

Another thing, being in the predicament I am in...with money being tight now that I am no longer the big breadwinner I was, there is a bigger fire under my ass to accomplish my goals for my writing career. And to keep writing.

Do I want to sit in my office at work, making what I make, or do I want to get my writing out there and try to make a living (be it  part-time, or eventually full-time) as a writer?

Worst-case scenario... I don't make diddly squat. I am in no worse shape than my current situation.

So thanks job...Initially taking the cut that I did felt like the equivalent of being trampled by a herd of elephant after six years (almost seven) of working my butt off for the same company. Because you have inspired me even more so to get my ass out there as a writer.

Who knows? Maybe one day I won't need a job...maybe one day this will be my job full-time.

If that's what this all leads to, dealing with all that crap will have been worth it.

You Say I'm A Dreamer, But I'm Not

I loved Dinner for Schmucks. Hilarious movie. Steve Carell's character was loveable yet drove you nuts at the same time.  There was one scene in the movie that although it makes me laugh because he misinterprets a great John Lennon song, it also makes me think.

"You say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not."

Really the line from the song is "You say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one." While I love this song. Maybe the schmuck got it right.

I've been trying to prep myself for this headlong dive into finally publishing. It seems surreal, exciting and at times somewhat terrifying. I remembered I had downloaded Smart Self-Publshing: Becoming an Indie Author by Zoe Winters a while back. And while I had read a good portion of it, I went back this past week and started re-reading it. She has some great advice and is definitely someone I find to be a decent role model in this indie world.

Among all the good advice Zoe has managed to pack into this book one thing stuck out in particular. Something that really can be applied to anyone, not just a writer.

Dreamers are those that think about all the what if's and wouldn't it be nice. They don't actually DO anything, but dream...

But those that set goals...well they work toward them. Not to talk about the all-mighty roller derby again but, I set a goal to be able to play in games. I passed my tests...and now I will probably be playing in a game soon!

For the longest time I always said I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to publish something and have people read my books. Dreaming about it didn't get me anywhere.

It wasn't until I got off my lazy ba-donk-a-donk, finished my drafts, finished all the initial edits and started actually working towards publishing it that anything got done.

I know this is sort of a well  DUH post, but I just thought sometimes we need a reminder to stop dreaming and start setting goals. Things feel so much harder to obtain when we are dreaming about them. But they become a reality when we start striding toward them.

So my goals right now are finish the final edit, get Mistaken to the publisher and formatted and uploaded for electronic sales.

As I finish reading her book I plan to set some more goals as well as figure out more my road map.

It is sometimes hard for us to actually grasp when one of our goals is within our grasp, and I feel like that is where I am now.

Just a few more steps...

Check out Zoe winter's blog here  .

In The Beginning...

There was Rayvenne...and this was good.  As an up and coming indie author she decided to make a blog. You see, she is a slight blogaholic and will think of any excuse to blog. Sometimes even to avoid her writing deadlines...not all the time, just sometimes!

Oh alright, enough third person business. So yes I am starting this blog for more professional purposes. More or less anything related to publishing books of mine and the indie publishing industry in general. I hope through my posts you will find useful...or at least entertaining information. I put a little about myself on my About page, but writing truly has been a passion of mine since I was a child. I remember having trouble being able to read, being a little behind my classmates, and by the time I was able to read I was in love with reading! As I got a little older, I decided to try writing on my own and found that I really enjoyed not only creating my little alternate universes, but seeing others enjoy my stories. Throughout middle and high school I kept up creative writing on my own, mostly for the entertainment of my friends. Heading into college I was told I needed a real career... I tried to find passion in nursing...no such luck.

While I will say that I love art, to me writing is also art so I don't find it suprising to be majoring in graphic design as well as working towards publishing my stories. I have found that I am happy when I am creating something, whether it be a story, a work of art, crocheting a beanie with cat ears (yep, I have done this...), I am content to create.

I am hoping to finish my first draft of "Mistaken", my current work in progress, in the next couple months and then start the fun process of going through editing, formatting, marketing, and publishing! Fun! Well it should be an adventure anyways!

-Rayvenne