Well, it’s certainly been a year, and it’s only 6 months in. Hours ago, SAG authorized a historic strike, joining the ongoing WGA strike, and I’m psyched to see the solidarity strengthen protections for both unions. However, given that I am unemployed as of a few weeks ago and moved to the very expensive Los Angeles, CA to work in that industry, the timing for me personally is pretty much the worst. So….
Complete
- Save $5000.
- Thank goodness I made sure to do this early, since I got laid off from my full time job at the end of June! But that’s why I’ve had savings goals the past few years, so I’d have a bit of a safety net if/when I was back on the job market.
- Polish and send out 20 literary agent queries.
- In fact, I’ve so far sent 77, recieved one maybe, 38 outright rejections, and 24 passive rejections (nonresponsive agents after 2 months get this label). That’s showbiz, baby.
- Write 2 new scripts.
- Not only are Christina and I on the third rewrite of our feature, but I also wrote a terrible new pilot that I’m afraid to look at again! Doesn’t matter, though, because it’s complete and so is this resolution.
- Secret resolution: hit 100 subscribers on my weekly romance novel newsletter
- I hit this metric this morning, in fact! I want to personally thank Maya Rodale, historical romance author who I love, because like half of those subscribers found me because her Substack recommends mine passively and she recently sent a newsletter personally recommending me alongside another few publications for romance lovers. THANK YOU MAYA!
- Also in the last week, folks have started tentatively signing up to pay for exclusive bonus posts, so the first one of those has gone up and was designed to start a fight with fans of a certain romcom. Join me?
In Progress
- Visit 5 National Parks. Unemployment, mom’s hip replacement, and other preexisting travel concerns have slowed down this considerably, but we did briefly dip into Joshua Tree in January!
- Introduce physical activity into my weekly routine. If I can convince myself to try on my first bathing suit in over a decade to finally take advantage of the pool I can see from my apartment window, perhaps this will change.
- Revise all 3 books I wrote last year. I’ve polished books 1 and 3 from last year, because I realized book 2 requires far more comprehensive edits than expected and I’m afraid of it. But ? ain’t bad for halfway through the. year!
- Continue to cultivate a social life that isn’t completely professional. Much easier especially post-layoff, and I’m really enjoying getting to spend time (virtually and IRL) with the people I love
- Finish my list of movies and shows people have recommended to me. Oh no oh gosh. I’ve gotten through 2 of the shows on this list but then the list doubled. I also got back into Skyrim and finished my 234th book of the year yesterday, so whoops, perhaps not this year.
- Re-integrate non-reading hobbies back into my weekly routine. Maybe soon, I have some ideas but it’s so hot I basically just want to lie around and wallow.
- Focus on building a life I love regardless of career. Good timing to be laid off, eh? Thankfully, this one is also going pretty well. In relative terms, that is. Quinn and I are trying to get out of the apartment more often, see friends more often, I’m trying to organize a new DND game, and absolutely none of that has anything to do with my career. I’m enjoying this slowdown (even though, as my friend Shannon recently pointed out, my schedule doesn’t look like it’s slowed down at all post-layoff) and this opportunity to be creative and enjoy the world and people around me without also having to clock into a company I was increasingly frustrated with!
I said at the end of last year that 2023 felt like a true fresh start, and, well, that’s been truer than I could have even imagined. But I’m really happy, and I’m excited for what comes next.
