Yes, I will still have to move back in with my parents next month. No, I don't have an agent or a book deal yet. But I am finding the center I lost when I came home from Japan and my plans didn't work out and I had to start over from nothing.
I'm getting up early. I'm exercising. I'm doing creative things and beginning to have some success at them. Speaking of which...
ANNOUNCEMENT: The day after I posted the entry explaining why I quit my job, I got my first narration offer. I will be narrating a YA Paranormal Romance audiobook, which will be available on Audible! Three hours later, I got a request to audition for another, which I plan to submit this week.
I might be moving in less than a month, but my life is good right now. Mostly, I'm thankful for my friends. If there's one pattern I can see in hindsight, it's that (the Benevolent Universe, God, luck, whatever) always prepared me for big life shifts by giving me the people I need to feel loved and accepted so I can handle them.Maybe I should have seen this big shift coming. In fact, I think I definitely should have seen it coming, because I've been fortunate enough to have a number of really amazing friends enter my life in the last year.
- Friends who message me out of nowhere with pictures of flowers.
- Friends who show up with ice cream and Fellowship of the Ring when I get rejection letters.
- Friends who commiserate and console and encourage in just the right way.
- Friends who convince me I'm not crazy, or if I am, they'll find the best facility to put me in.
- Friends who open up doors they don't even know they're opening.
- Friends I could travel the world with (and plan to).
- Friends who text me after reading my blog, just to make sure I'm okay.
- Friends who like me even when I feel like I don't deserve it.
It's funny, because I knew I'd have support from the friends I grew up with--the friends who are my found family--and after being lucky enough to have them, I sort of thought that I'd gotten my chance. I found my tribe early, and I thought that meant I'd exhausted my capacity.
I hadn't thought I'd be able to make close friends as an adult, especially after coming back from Japan. In the last year, however, I made a ton of friends that make me feel blessed. Through this whole shift, they've encouraged me and kept me afloat, even when I was sure I was drowning.
So yeah. I have awesome friends. From the Pagemasters to Podcasters, Magical Words to Artistic Eccentricities, and a couple people who don't need a category, I am fucking lucky.
Here there be shout outs to a few in particular:
Abigail Hilton, Bryan Lincoln, Tee Morris, Pip Ballantine, A.J. Hartley, Sarah Moore, Elyse Revelle, Ryan Graczkowski (I can spell it without looking), Erik Goodin, & Courtney McMillon. You guys proved me wrong.