Where do I even start? | Major life update

What’s that saying? Life happens while you’re busy making plans. Yeah, that one. I feel like I should get that tattooed on my body. (Stop freaking out, Mom. I won’t actually do it.) But woof. You guys. Hold on, let me gather my thoughts and figure out where exactly I should start.

I guess the most logical place is where I left off. Last you all knew, I was navigating being a full-time work-from-home stay-at-home-mom. Ha, jokes on me, right? The day, literally just hours after, that last post went live, everything changed. Everything.

I got laid off. Very unexpectedly. And it wasn’t your traditional layoff with weeks or months of severance. We were one paycheck away from relying solely on my husband’s income. And while I’m super grateful that he’s employed and we at least had that, since he’s in education, my earning capacity has always just been higher. And we rely on my income. So for it to be suddenly, very unexpectedly gone. Well, panic immediately gripped my throat. And well, for anyone that knows me, this will likely come as no surprise. But I immediately went into solutions mode. I didn’t process. (If I’m honest, I still haven’t quite processed everything. Tell your therapist friends to save a spot for me on their couch.) I just did.

And thank God I did.
Thank God for the internet.
Thank God for TikTok.
Thank God for all of you.

Stay with me. This is where the story gets good. People. Oh, my gosh. People. People are good. So. So. Good. If you’ve lost faith in humanity with everything going on in the world, please let this story be a reminder that the world is still full of beautiful souls. And we’re lucky enough to live among them.

I posted a TikTok. I know. I know. We all know I’m not a social media person. I’ve just always been most comfortable here on this blog. But, God. I had one follower on TikTok, so I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting. (Jokes, I know exactly what I was expecting. Crickets.) Here’s the video.

@lots2smileabout This feels ick but here we go. Please share this with anyone who might be willing to buy a book! #laidoff #yaauthorsoftiktok #booktok #ya #help #momsoftiktok #momtok #parentsoftiktok #momlife #helpamamaout #greenscreen ♬ Pieces (Solo Piano Version) – Danilo Stankovic

The internet swooped in. They swooped so hard. In under 24 hours, Yeah, maybe was a #1 Amazon Best Seller. WHAT ON EARTH? I never expected a book I published 9 years ago to literally save me and my family some day. But it did. And I have you all to thank for that.

As if that weren’t enough, people started to read the book and report back. YOU GUYS! They loved it. Those of you who have hung out here with me for a while know I never did anything with the book because I was afraid. I’ve wanted to be a writer my entire life. I have stories upon stories upon stories. I have so many half-finished manuscripts. But I just didn’t think it would ever be in the cards for me. And I was terrified that if my first book wasn’t good enough, that future would be off the table forever. So it was enough for me to just do it, to publish it and put that little check mark next to the life goal: publish a book. Done.

Except now I have people asking that I write more books. I know the reviews of the book have always been good. But you know how easy it is to convince yourself those reviews were the outliers. Maybe, just maybe, those people were wrong. But that message gets a little harder to ignore when it’s smacking you in the face left and right. In fact, a good friend of mine (hi, Kat! 👋🏻) said to me when all of this started to happen “that’s not a God wink. That’s a God SLAP!” Amen. Amen.

So now what? Well, I immediately fixed up my resume and started applying to jobs in droves. And…crickets. Well, not crickets. I got a lot of “thank you for your application but we are not moving forward filling this role at this time.” Okay. So why do you have it listed? Sigh. Fun market, I tell ya.

Oh, did I mention that I’m in a bit of a tricky spot? So, I pulled my son from daycare at the end of last year. My job was amazing about it, and I was so excited to get to do both. To be both. To still provide for my family and be present for my son. Except now, the earliest daycare opening I could find for his age group was 4 months from the day I got laid off. And that was a daycare that was 45 minutes away from my house.

In the meantime, I’ve taken on some freelance work. I’m still applying to jobs. And the book sales have really helped tremendously. Now the question will be if this can actually be sustainable. If you’ll remember, back in 2018, I challenged myself to write a book in 30 days. I completed that challenge with 50,000 words of a manuscript. The book wasn’t finished, but it was written. That book? A sequel to Yeah, maybe.

I let that project die because I figured eh, no one is going to care about these characters at this point. In 2018, it had been 4 years since I’d published the first book. It was a fun project to challenge myself with, and that was enough for me. Except now people are literally asking for a sequel. (HOW IS THIS MY REAL LIFE?) So, I’ve been working feverishly to get that book finished.

It’s my hope that it will be ready to release mid-late summer. (Fingers crossed, y’all.)

In the meantime, I’m hanging out on TikTok. And I launched a new YouTube channel. I’m posting 3 times a week on Youtube and every day over on TikTok. It’d mean a lot to me if you would subscribe over on Youtube.

I probably won’t be here much. I’m trying to reserve my writing energy for books since it’s kind of my job at the moment. (WHAT IS THIS LIFE!?)

I don’t know how long this will last. So for right now, I’m just allowing myself to enjoy it. It’s a dream come true. And I want to soak in every minute of it. If I’ve learned anything, life happens in seasons. I’m no stranger to swift change and pivoting. So if and when the time comes that I have to pivot, pivot I will.

Thank you.
Thank you.
THANK YOU.