Dear Readers,
For many years, our family business (Leader Motorcycle) was my full-time job. Even before COVID, though, the proliferation of cheaper alternatives flooding the internet was taking its toll on our sales (our American-made products simply couldn’t compete on the basis of price).
Then COVID pretty much put the nail in the coffin. Although I’d already been patching together three part-time jobs (and writing!) -- including working as an EMT on weekends -- it became clear that wasn’t going to work long-term. Having our income go down rather than up (when we’ve seen a 25% increase in some expenses) was simply the wrong trajectory.
Plus, COVID put even more stress on those working in IT (including my hubby), contributing to a mass exodus and high burn-out for those remaining. He’s been carrying the load (in terms of health care & benefits) for a long time, and it’s time for him to do something less stressful (but which will undoubtedly pay less).
So, I was thrilled in June when I was offered a Marketing Manager position at a business only 10 minutes from my home. Unfortunately, the environment was extremely dysfunctional. It took me a few months to admit that things weren’t going to change and it would be exhausting (and unhealthy) for me to stay.
In October I started working at a marketing firm, where my coworkers are a load more fun and I can continue to be involved in creative pursuits. (I also resigned my EMT position and won't be renewing my certification when it expires in March.)
My only regret is that I have so little time to write. There are only so many hours in a day. And since I still want to spend at least some of those hours with the people I care about the most, I had to give up a few things.
One of them is social media (no big loss there, as I’m not that fond of it anyway). So being on my email list is going to be the best way to know about new books, freebies, etc.
The other is limiting the sale of most of my books to Amazon. Honestly, it’s not my preference, but managing multiple channels takes time, and frankly, I just don’t sell that much on Apple, Nook or Kobo.
(NOTE: If you read on any of these other platforms, you can still purchase my books directly here and side-load them to your reading device. The instructions to do so come with your book!)
Am I going to stop writing? Heck, no! In fact, if all goes as planned, I will have three book releases in 2023! So I hope you stick with me! (And if you found this page and you're not yet my VIP, here's the link to sign up!)