Hi all,
Bolshewik Artizan with a one-year-in update....
FIREd one year ago with a NW of $2.2m and a still-working spouse. Gave up career I did not enjoy to resume my first love as a writer, having had a novel and five books of poetry published by the time I gave up the day job.
Thoughts? Well, I'm much happier. I'm also continuously becoming aware of the insidious effect my previous life had on me: not just the physical effect of getting up to write at 5AM before going to a day job at seven thirty (I became physically unable to do this in my mid-forties with a child so the day job had to go) but also the mentally limiting effect of corporate politics, bitchery, etc.
I've written two books in the last year - one completed and one at first draft stage. First one has a publisher, second not (obviously). What I've also learned, again, are the downsides of the writer's life I'd forgotten about - the poor money, the being alone, etc etc. But I'm much better prepared for them this time round than before. Money is a lot tighter, but that's not a problem for us.
Above all else, I feel I am living life, doing real things that matter to me, instead of sitting in a meeting room or cubicle listening to bullshit or being subjected to same. My perspective on everything has changed: and that's perhaps the best thing of all. I no longer feel trapped, miserable and desperate, which is more or less how I felt for the past 20 years.
I wish you all health and happiness in 2017!
BA