Weekend Coffee Share – The Month of New Beginnings

LeCoffee-1If we were having coffee, I might actually be drinking coffee instead of tea because I need the extra boost after a hectic week! You sip your hot beverage of choice and look at me quizzically. What happened? You thought I was pretty much done the video game script and I’d be focusing on my novel this month. Why am I so busy? Well, it all started with my yearly beginning-of-September panic…

September has always been the month of new beginnings, the month I take stock of the last year, the month I look at my life and ask, “What the hell am I doing?” I wrote a bit about this in last week’s post (Deadlines: Harmful or Helpful?), where I lamented again how much longer writing a novel is taking and came up with some ideas to do better. What I didn’t reveal in that post is my bank account is dangerously low. This is nothing new since I’ve been a freelancer for well over a decade, saving my pennies between gigs so I can buy myself time to work on my personal projects. I always seem to get more work just when I need it. However, I came to the conclusion that I’m totally sick of living like this.

Now don’t spit-take your coffee – I am not trading in my freelance freedom for a 9-to-5 job. Hells no! You know I’m not a morning person. 😉 But I decided I need a part-time job that’s a little more regular. I also decided this part-time job should have nothing to do with writing. Instead, it should be something that gives me a break from the voices in my head, something active, something I’ve been pondering for a couple years now, something I love so much that it doesn’t matter that the pay isn’t great because I’ll have fun doing it…

Gymnastics Coach!

Now, if we’ve been having coffee for a while, this comes as no surprise. You’re probably nodding your head like that was the most natural transition in the world. You might even ask what took me so long. But if we’re new friends, you might think this is a weird part-time gig for a writer. For the full explanation, check out this post: What Gymnastics Taught Me About Writing.

23 I get my first certOnce I made this decision, I casually mentioned it to the woman who owns the gymnastics academy where I train, expecting that I’d take my coaching courses over the next couple months and start shadow coaching in the winter session, but she wanted me to start ASAP! So within the week, I’ve taken my first coaching course and shadowed two classes. That’s on top of the three times a week I take gymnastics classes for myself. AND to make this week even busier, I’m Quality Assurance testing my episode of LongStory, the video game I wrote this summer. For more on that, read this. And somehow in the midst of everything, I still managed to eke out an hour a day on the novel.

Oh, and I almost forgot – the in-laws are in town this week and at our house every day.

So yeah, I’ve been busy. But super excited! The only real downside is that I have ZERO brain power to come up with a fresh blog post for this Monday, so I’ll be reposting an old favourite from the Writing Craft Archives.

How have you been? Do you take stock of your life in September too? Did you embark on any new beginnings this month?

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If We Were Having Coffee is a blog hop inspired and run by the lovely and talented Diana at Part Time Monster. Please drop by her place for coffee. You can also see what other bloggers are up to by checking out the hashtag #WeekendCoffeeShare on Twitter.

Author: Heather Jackson

Heather is a freelance screenwriter, game writer, and novelist based in Toronto. For more, visit her website at heatherjacksonwrites.com or follow her on Twitter @HeatherJacksonW

21 thoughts on “Weekend Coffee Share – The Month of New Beginnings”

  1. Heather, sounds like an incredible week. I know so many writers juggling the whole writing versus staying financially afloat and it’s quite the conundrum. Gymnastics coach sound like a fabulous idea also because writers need to live in worlds beyond writing to make their work more appealing to a wider audience.
    I took up playing the violin a few years ago and while I struggle to practice regularly, it has definitely changed my life in so many ways. I play in an ensemble and I tell the group that my real gift is writing about playing the violin xx Rowena

  2. I do also take stock of my life in September, although I didn’t realize there was a pattern until … oh, about a week ago. Now it seems bizarre I should’ve ever not noticed the pattern, but I’m glad to see it for what it is, so I’ll know better what to do with it (be patient! don’t fret, much!) next September. 🙂

  3. Congrats! Yep, September is my time to reflect as well. And I came to the same conclusion this summer that you wrote: “I’m totally sick of living like this.” I’m looking for work that has nothing to do with writing, too, and will help me think less about money, etc. To new adventures!

  4. I think it’s great. You’ll be using your job to be more active, which is important, and it’ll keep all the endorphins balanced. 🙂 Breaks from the brain are also important! Congrats on the new transition, though I’m sorry it came on the tail of low funds! That’s never fun. In any case, I hope you get some time to work on your stuff, soon!

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