Everything is changing.

 Yes, this will be two posts in one day, and you're probably wondering what happened to bring about this rarity. Actually, I aspire to knock the cobwebs off this blog a little more often in the coming times. To that end, if for no other purpose than my own sense of my timeline, I'm going to do a brief recap on the previous couple years, and also note the direction my little wagon appears to be heading. 

After I graduated with my Masters in 2022, I accepted a job teaching literature and research writing at the same university. I loved being there (OBVIOUSLY), and I adored the faculty and staff. To be offered a job there was so beyond what I had dared to hope for, and I'm thrilled for that incredible opportunity. I accepted a position as lecturer, the bottom-tier workhorse level of the department. I am thankful to have experienced teaching at that level, and I hope that I was a help and encouragement to my students. However, the terms of remuneration were insufficient to facilitate what I need to achieve financially for the remainder of my working years. 

After my first full year of teaching, I returned in Fall 2023 to the unhappy news that the Uni was in a financial crisis, extreme measures were being undertaken, and it was uncertain whether I'd have a job in Fall 2024 with the uni, even at my low pay. Add to that stress the difficulty that I'd been diagnosed with cancer in Summer 2023 and was undergoing radiation for some months into the Fall semester. To say this was a troubling and stressful time is to understate, but I also had faith and the loving support of friends and family who sustained me at that trying time. 

Life is uncertain even under the best circumstance, but the hem-hawing at the university over whether my job was secure was a bridge too far. When a friend mentioned an employment opportunity at her work in what is an education-peripheral field, I leapt at the opportunity. To my profound relief, they offered me the job, and it was a tremendous blessing. I'm incredibly happy to be there. I worked both jobs my final two months at the uni, though the new job generously allowed me to ramp up gradually part time while I was still teaching. 

This is the best job I've ever had. It's funny to think how low-key my friend was at selling the job: it's wildly beyond my expectations. The perks are the best, and I work with the most delightful bunch of people. I enjoy what I'm doing and I love being there with my coworkers. My friend undersold the job, because it just gets better and better. 

While I will continue with the full time job for the foreseeable future, I'm stepping up my own creative writing, so I'll be posting here more often. I'll also set up an author substack in the future, so I'll link that here, too. With Raconteur Press I'm performing various editing tasks, and that is a pleasurable way to also be at the cutting edge with exciting authors--some of them first-timers--who send their wonderful stories to us. 

I had another cancer scare in December. I already had a fire lit, but I received the all-clear on the recent shot across the bow, and I'm feeling super-motivated to Do All The Things. I have come to recognize that I need to work like I think my time is short, even though I hope it is not. I've been the butterfly that flits from flower to flower, always on a lazy summer day. It's time to stop lollygagging. It's time to stop being the butterfly, do my late blooming, and transform into the battle-ready armored dragonfly I know I can be, so watch this space. *pew!* *pew!*

Everything is changing. This should be interesting.