Going Through Changes

2015-Aug-31 -> from the life-happens-sometimes department Tags: personal writing

Change is something that's as constant and ever-present as death and taxes, though in the last couple years, it's been much more prominent in my life than before. Most of it has been for the better, but there have been a few hiccups. I'll start at the beginning, and hopefully by the end, you'll have forgiven me for my lack of presence on my own website.

Two and a half years ago, at the beginning of 2013, I stepped on our trusty bathroom scale, and nearly had a heart attack. The scale read 253 lbs. This was the first of my epiphanies that led to a large amount of change in my life. Since then, I've taken control of my life, and lost almost 80 lbs, and am still working on the last little bit. I look better, I feel better, and I'm no longer afraid that I won't be around to see my two daughters grow up.

A little over a year ago, I realized that I was very unhappy with my employer. This was my second big epiphany. I had been working for a local company, maintaining their custom ERP system, and I learned and grew a lot in that position. Alas, that company was taken over by a much larger corporation, and their new way of doing business didn't jive with me. So I made the difficult decision to leave them and take a job with a company that is an hour drive away. Fortunately, the commute is actually the worst part of my job. I now work for a company called IGLOO Software, doing database development. I'm happier than I've ever been in a job, and just celebrated my one-year anniversary there.

With all this change going on, I realized today, that for a writer, I don't seem to be doing much writing lately. After analyzing my web stats, which I haven't looked at in forever, I realized that my numbers have been dropping steadily month over month. This leads me to my third major epiphany... in order to call myself a writer, I need to actually write. My hope is that writing on the blog again will help me declutter my head, and lead to some more creative thoughts that will help me get my next book done, which I've been having a lot of trouble with. The good news is I'm back on track, and have a good idea of how to round out the book and finish the story.

All told, this has been some very positive change. I'm happier, healthier, and am going to start producing again. I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do for NaNoWriMo this year, and will be attending a local comic-con in October. With any luck, I'll have the new book ready by then, and will be able to launch it at the event. Stay tuned for more details on that.

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for hanging around. I hope you'll come back and see what else pops up on here in the coming weeks/months, and hey... if you have any ideas that you'd like to see explored here, leave them in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

I'm always interested in hearing what you have to say. Contact Me, I'd love to hear from you.

Don't forget to join in on the conversation in the comments section below.

10 Comments:

By sue on Mon 31 Aug 2015 02:43:50 pm [ Reply ] Well done, Thomas. Hang in there.

By Thomas A. Knight on Tue 1 Sep 2015 01:19:10 am [ Reply ] Thanks, Sue. I appreciate you dropping by.

By Ia on Mon 31 Aug 2015 03:29:31 pm [ Reply ] Hi Thomas. Life has a way of getting in the way and times and again we must attend to higher priorities. But nothing can take away who you are or what you have in you and so you'll write again. Good luck with the new project!

By Thomas A. Knight on Tue 1 Sep 2015 01:21:02 am [ Reply ] Thanks, Ia. I've been working pretty hard to get the new book done in time. Thanks for dropping by.

By marta on Mon 31 Aug 2015 09:56:18 pm [ Reply ] Hi Thomas, sure glad to hear from you! You were so helpful on Amazon. Today, I started battering myself with the shoulds and realized, for the umpteenth time, that my life, health and happiness matters more than all else. I can relate on how hard it is to be in a job that makes us unhappy. hoyecomova.com

By Thomas A. Knight on Tue 1 Sep 2015 01:22:59 am [ Reply ] Yeah, the old job really dragged me down, and it's been a long hard struggle to get out of that place. I feel better now. Better than I have in a long time. More like I have a handle on things. Thanks for reading. :)

By Scott Nagele on Tue 1 Sep 2015 12:43:29 pm [ Reply ] Lots of positive changes: that can't be bad for your creative process. Best of luck to you.

By Thomas A. Knight on Tue 1 Sep 2015 08:44:23 pm [ Reply ] Thanks, Scott. The change has been largely positive, yes, and I'm happy for that.

By Bill on Thu 3 Sep 2015 04:38:34 pm [ Reply ] Good for you, sounds like lots of good changes. Oddly enough, the scale told me that I was at 253 (point something) this morning which I would take as more of a problem if it hadn't told me I was at 267 a few months ago. Good luck on getting onto the writing train, I'm hoping to maybe do Nano again this year myself.

By Thomas A. Knight on Fri 4 Sep 2015 01:05:45 am [ Reply ] 253 was an all-time high for me. But hey, if you're down, that's fantastic. Keep up the good work. I hope to see you doing Nano again this year.

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