I'm actually writing this on Thursday the 14th. I realized earlier in the day that the 13th had passed, and so had the eleventh anniversary of my blog! Whoops. What does it say about me that, after eleven years of writing about whatever caught my fancy, I could space something like this. Am I as committed to this blog as I should be?
All I have to offer are excuses, but they are good ones. There were some deadlines due, some housework that needed to be done, and I'm making progress on rewriting The Night Girl. So, while my blog output may be down, my writing output is actually going quite well. I wrote 1,000 words on The Night Girl on Tuesday. I wrote two columns for The Kitchener Post (that's 1,200 words!) on Wednesday, and I have more work to do today. Since August, I have written ten non-fiction books for schools. Within the next few months, I will have twenty-five books with my name on them. I have a regular paying gig and decent work coming in on a number of fronts.
I don't want to jinx things, but there's a phrase out there that I've heard on the Internet. It goes like this: "I am finally doing the job I was born to do." It feels true, and it feels good.
That isn't to say that there aren't a lot of stresses in my life. The kids keep things interesting, and every job, no matter how good it is, can still suck sometimes. There's rejections. There's bad edits. There's plenty of reasons to be frustrated. The house is a mess, but we're keeping it together. The kids are happy, doing well in school, and we're feeding them all right. We know where the next meal is coming. And Erin and I are both managing this while working as writers. When I look back at my time at university or high school, when I wanted to become an architect and then an urban planner, the idea that I could write for a living never entered my mind -- and, for good reason, because I also wanted a house and a stable life in which to raise kids. Getting here has taken a lot of hard work, a lot of luck, and a lot of patience and support from my kids, from my wife, and from my parents and from my in-laws. And while things could still change, and while things are still often frustrating, I would like it said on the record that I am incredibly grateful.
I'm having the time of my life. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that I can keep this up.