Pivot, and Rebalance - Laura Anne Gilman

I’ve been working in the wine industry out here in Washington for five years, the last two as manager of a tasting room, and for the most part, I’ve loved it.Â But this week I officially gave notice at the winery.

I’m not walking away from the wine biz entirely – I plan to pick up hours working here and there.Â As I said, I really loved the job. But the cost/benefit equation of the manager’s job no longer worked in my favor – I felt I was losing too much of my writing-self to it, and that wasn’t good.

(and yes, sometimes life decisions do come down to a ledger line)

On the plus side: weekends free for socializing ‘n stuff!Â I can go to convention without stressing over who is going to cover for me!Â And most importantly, more emotional energy for writing!

Minus: Bluntly, I’m walking away from a not-insignificant chunk of income.

But the whole ‘one door closes, another opens’ thing has been true my entire life, and this is no exception – even as I was making that decision, another part-time job came along that suited both my need to get the fuck out of the house occasionally, and to have a small but steady paycheck to offset the inconsistent nature of publishing revenue.Â And it contains three of the most beautiful words in the English (American) language:”Paid Time Off.” For the first time in years I can say “I have to take these days off” and not be losing pay.

For someone who’s been a freelancer/working hourly gigs for the past two decades, this is just such a weirdly wonderful concept…

So yeah: pivot, rebalance, and go.

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