Thursday, February 18, 2016

I'm in a pretty good place

So I've just been kind of rolling with it and breathing.

Bear with me; I'll lead you through it.

For the past 18 months I've been at a "start-up." I use the term in quotes because a start-up is supposed to mean a young, fast-growth company that one might join at a low salary in order to make money on the equity when it gets acquired or goes public.

In my case, however, it was apparent within a few months that my equity was likely to remain worthless, leaving me with only the low salary, assuming we made payroll. Oh, and a condescending, narcissistic CEO.

I was counting on "Beep! Beep!" selling well and leading to maybe figuring out how to actually make a living doing that. And that didn't happen.

Then, over the past six weeks, the following things happened:

  • Samuel got accepted to Lafayette College, his first choice. It's a small, Liberal Arts college with a computer engineering program, not too far from home.
  • I got a new job, at a large media company, with a really nice, really smart boss who knows what she's doing and isn't obnoxious. It's not the most money I've ever made, but it pays 50% more than I was making seven weeks ago.
  • As I've noted previously in this blog and across all other forms of social media, "Beep! Beep!" was named a 2016 Notable Book. (Repeating because it was a big deal for me, and just felt...redeeming.)
  • We went to a theatrical performance at Ethan's high school in celebration of the Lunar New Year (ah, Manhattan), and it just seemed that he is finally--everything is going to turn out fine.
  • Samuel turned 18. Jesus. 18. And he's still the sweetest boy in the universe.
  • Not to delve too deeply into our financial situation, but we just secured a line of credit that provides a safety net beyond our $200 savings account, if push comes to shove. And it probably means we can send Samuel to Lafayette. (I joked to Jennifer as we left the signing, "I'll see you at home. I'm taking Samuel to buy a DeLorean." Then we both kind of realized I might not be joking.)
Things aren't perfect (I need to sell another manuscript), but I'm not going to complain (I need to sell another manuscript).

I'm going to chill out and kiss Jennifer and write a YA novel and lose eight pounds and...sigh...just...f-ing...breathe.




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