All Quiet On The Eastern Front?

I haven't posted on this blog since last December - a new record for me. Now, nobody would blame you if you either a) didn't notice or b) noticed and thought, welp, she's probably busy with the book release or b-ii she has nothing of interest to report.

Truth is, like the book that inspired the title of this blog post, there was a lot going on that wasn't evident on the surface. Yes, I was busyish with first the UK release and then the India release of 'What Will People Think' (you will find a link to the first chapter on that link too) but there were other, more insidious things happening on the professional front. I won't go into details, but eventually things came to a head and long story short, I was laid off last month.

You may have heard that the job market is bad at the moment, and I can tell you through experience that the reports are a 100% true. So, I have spent the past month or so trying to come to terms with the fact that I am no longer a full-time advertising professional, but a part-time writer. Because as it turns out, writing, at least for me, is more difficult the more time I have to devote to it. For the past decade, I have juggled writing with my day job and now, without that job, it's somehow harder. To be disciplined, to have a writing routine, to be productive.

Part of it was also the shock, I believe. To go from being an earning member of the family and gainfully employed, to becoming someone who has nowhere to go every day is a jarring experience. I have worked for over 20 years, without any career break and to wake up one morning and have no office to go to in the foreseeable future was just... cataclysmic. I couldn't handle it.

But I am doing much better now. I now have time to read books like never before (I just finished Phillipa Gregory's The Last Tudor). I have begun re-editing the manuscript I had finished off haphazardly. I have an idea for a new book that I am more confident of developing. And I have met and spoken to friends who have made me feel as if I am not alone in this. I don't know when I will return to the workforce. I am considering using that time to focus fully on my writing - something I have often wished for in the past. As the meme goes, when life hands you lemons, make a mojito.