Image source: Merlina McGovern
And that, folks, is a wrap. A wrap on the year that seemed to last forever, that is.
This year started off relatively stress free. My parents had traveled from Albuquerque to stay with us through Christmas and New Year’s. My mother made her delicious lumpia—crispy, pork-filled Fillipino egg rolls. We dined on lumpia and pancit (a stir-fried noodle dish that uses rice noodles and is filled with poached chicken, shredded carrots and cabbage, and a whole bunch of yum) and sipped champagne as we rang in the New Year.
After the holidays and my parents had traveled back to New Mexico, I noticed that I was filled with a constant level of low-grade buzzing anxiety. I didn’t really know what the source of that anxiety was, but it was most likely because of the seemingly ever-increasing levels of stress that work was giving to everybody.
Of course, when I got the email from an executive asking me to join a meeting filled with quite a few people that I never interacted with, I instantly understood what was going on. I was about to become one of the more than 240,000 tech workers caught up in the mass tech layoffs of 2023, as outlined by TechCrunch.
Sigh.
It wasn’t really the way that I had wanted to start the year. Especially after having been with a single company for more than sixteen years.
Little did I know, though, this setback was a sign that this year was going to be a year of tremendous growth and opportunity for me. In fact, this layoff was the catalyst for me starting my own copyediting and writing business. I was scared. I’d never started my own business before. I was also never one to toot my own horn, and now I would be responsible for doing that all up and down the Internet to drum up editing business.
I was so very lucky to have connected with Josh Bernoff, a former analyst and now writer and author coach and editor extraordinaire. He gave me my first freelance copy editing job and a whole host of introductions that led me to getting a firm footing in my new business. In fact, one of my first jobs was to edit his newest book, Build a Better Business Book, which is currently for sale and is actually a perfect book to buy for someone you know that’s interested in writing a book (including yourself!).
After that kickstart, I was off and running. I picked up book projects and pushed myself to do content editing and to write blog posts and articles as well. On top of all of that, now that I was freelancing, I was also able to work on writing my own novel. I now had the time and energy to actually pursue a dream that I had had since I was in grade school.
Although my progress has been slow, it is progress nonetheless—progress that I would never have made had I continued at my safe but energy-sucking corporate job. I also started a regular blog post on my own website and on Medium. The weekly writing exercise has improved my writing skills and given me the confidence to take on more writing work.
But this year hasn’t only been about work. It was about travel to Asheville, North Carolina, and Ireland. It was about watching my daughter join and excel at crew for the very first time as she entered high school as a freshman. It was about going out to fabulous dinners with my husband. It was about reading amazing books and becoming a Swiftie.
Generally, 2023 was about living life.
This will be my last regular posting for 2023. I will start up again in 2024. Until then, have fun and enjoy life, my friends—and keep writing.
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