Something Had to Change

What was it that made me realise it was time to re-evaluate my life and career? Was it any of the following?

Driving 2,500 miles a month, on average.
Five RTAs in seven years, including one vehicle write-off.
Being a regular guest at several hotels in the Holiday Inn brand.
Escalating blood pressure.
Inability to attend Parish Council meetings due to work.

Probably a combination of all if the above. As a pagan, I would celebrate the Spring and Autumn Equinox, with a promise to seek balance in my life. It wasn’t happening, not in the last seven years. And for what? What did I gain? I had a good salary, which is generally seen as a mark of success. I had a decent car on the driveway. I was able to support my son through university. We had three family holidays a year. But …

I was tired. I was physically and mentally exhausted. My blood pressure was dangerously high, and my diabetes was out of control.

It would take a day at least to relax into being on holiday. My ‘hobby’ of writing urban fantasy became more of an outlet to pour emotions I couldn’t voice for fear of appearing weak. As I mentioned, five RTAs, albeit all but one were rear-impacts where I was the victim. The one involving a vehicle write-off? That was due to being tired, having to drive two hours to reach a destination by 0800, as my employers were cutting back on hotel stays as it affected the profit margin. Trust me, I would not have been on the road at 0550 through choice.

I accumulated a lot of Holiday Inn Reward points such that I was a Platinum member of their loyalty scheme. I was a regular guest at the Holiday Inn Scotch Corner such that the barman knew my favourite dinner order, but in seven years, I never had the energy to use their rather decent looking swimming pool. The same could be said for several other hotels. I would eat my dinner and maybe work on my current novel, but I would be too tired to exercise, even though it was essential if I wanted to stay healthy.

I have always been keen to represent my village, such that I served as a Parish Councillor on two occasions. I had to resign the second time, as I found it impossible to attend meetings. That was despite having a note in my diary of the dates. But work meant that I might be away from home.

The crux came in early 2018, when the risk of redundancy became real. I had known from 2017 and before that it was a risk. There was a crossover between my sales territory and that of three of my colleagues. An attempt had been made to ‘encourage’ me to leave, such that when the notice was given, I had decided that I would hold out for the best package that I could squeeze.

So, there I was. Redundant at the age of fifty. My severance package meant that I had enough to support my family for six to eight months. Surely I would find another job in that time, I did also sign in for benefits, only to discover that thirty years of working without interruption, the last ten of which were as a 40% tax payer, entitled me to £34 per week as Jobseeker’s Allowance, for which I had to trek into the Job Centre every fortnight to ‘sign on’.

But, I realised something. My heart wasn’t into finding another job in the medical sales industry. So, I used the time to examine my options. Could we live on a lower salary? Medical sales was described to me as the job with the golden handcuffs. I also helped my parents as they were downsizing. So many things accumulated and to what end? There was the health issue. I had a recent scare over throat cancer.

My religious path has demonstrated to me that much in my life happens for a reason. Even the bouts of anxiety and depression, given the support I have received from true friends. That was where I put my trust. It was well-placed. On one of the dreaded group sessions at the Job Centre, we were introduced to Darren, who was looking for people for The Works store in Cambridge. He could only offer a four-hour per week contract, but he reckoned that it would be more than that. I had nothing to lose in talking to him.

After a twenty minute discussion, he asked me to submit a CV online as that was their system. I did, but received a rejection. A month later, we were told he would be in on the next day. I decided to ask him why, after our positive discussion, I had been rejected, particularly if he was still recruiting. It transpired that he did still want to see me, the four-hour contract turned into eight-hours, and could I attend an interview at the store the next day. Another competency interview and bearing in mind this was my first job, at the age of 51, in retail, I left the store with a start date of 17 September.

I discovered that Darren had felt that I was capable of much more and had submitted my details to Gail, the Area Manager, with the potential for a store manager role. To cut a long story short, I was interviewed by Gail and offered the role of Manager of the Newmarket store.

So, there you have it. After much consideration, I have decided that the stress and anxiety of working in medical sales was not worth the salary. Yes, I earn less, but the difference in tax allowances mean that I have a net salary not far short of my previous job. More importantly, even those issues my colleagues view as stressful are nothing. Twenty years in medical sales did teach me transferable skills,

Now I go home each night. I eat with my family. My dogs know who I am. My diabetes is under control and my blood pressure in improving. All because I dared to take a risk.

Come 1 December, after three weeks of training, I shall take over as Store Manager of the Newmarket branch of The Works.

So why is this important to me as a writer? Time. I have time to write again, time to research. Time to enjoy writing, rather than seeing it as an escape from stress only. This whole things taught me an important lesson. I used those first months after being made redundant to write. Over seven years, my writing and characters had matured, so I took the opportunity to revaluate where my series was bound. The pleasure in writing was restored. Work life balance is essential. It is not a nicety.

RELEVANT LINKS FOR JO PILSWORTH
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JKPilsworth

Paranormal may not be your thing. Urban fantasy may not either. But who knows? I may be one of your friends new favourite author.

Inspired by #Legends an #UrbanFantasy series.

Alpha: https://t.co/IRZLR92AFu
Beta: https://t.co/DGDDI03VB9
Merysekhmet (US link): https://t.co/fFOUm5MHUs
Toho: https://t.co/oKtbDgrqiH https://t.co/mGMuJWd6Xd
Medved: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C19QKPH

AMAZON LINKS

Alpha (US link): https://t.co/IRZLR92AFu
Beta: https://t.co/DGDDI03VB9
Merysekhmet (US link): https://t.co/fFOUm5MHUs
Toho: (US link): https://t.co/oKtbDgrqiH https://t.co/mGMuJWd6Xd
Medved: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C19QKPH

Celebrate Roald Dahl Day … Vaccinate

Everyone knows Roald Dahl. James and the Giant Peach was my first of his stories, but I also enjoyed his very adult Tales of the Unexpected.

But did you know that he was a strong advocate of vaccination? Did you know he lost a child, his eldest daughter Olivia, just before the introduction of measles vaccination?

RELEVANT LINKS FOR JO PILSWORTH
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JKPilsworth

Paranormal may not be your thing. Urban fantasy may not either. But who knows? I may be one of your friends new favourite author.

Inspired by #Legends an #UrbanFantasy series.

AMAZON LINKS

The Birth of a Character

This is a tale of three thirds: the birth of a new character and realising the nature of transferable skills, along with the inclusion of those skills on a CV.

Transferable Skills

The other day, I applied for several admin-type jobs. The rationale was simple. Whilst all of them paid a lot less that my former role in medical sales, they would all place me in a lower tax bracket. The net result would be a take-home salary not far from what I was earning previously. So I don’t have the bonus lure of working in sales, were I to be offered one of those roles, but with my son finished at university, the extra cash is not so important. Food for thought?

But sales vs admin? Skills used in sales: organisation, prioritisation, multi-tasking, project management, management of e-mail accounts, liaison with varying levels of external contacts. All feature both in sales and in a senior PA/Office Manager role. I have just set up my own company properly, with an online Hunter’s Arrow Store Front. All of that will be going on my CV, because it is all relevant experience. However, a caution: DON’T LIE. Be careful how you present those skills, since the last thing you would want is to be caught in a lie.

Skills Update

Another useful thing to do whilst you are looking for another job is skills update. Several months ago, I took advantage of the sale at Udemy.com. I bought a four part course for £20, which focused on internet security. As of Monday 23 July, they have one day of a £10.99 flash sale on. Not a logical thing for a salesperson to have, but if I was going for an admin job, it could be very useful indeed.

Computer skills are not the only thing one can study with Udemy.com. It is worth checking their site because their sales make their courses very affordable.

Banquo O’Cearnaigh, Selkie

From the one who admits to being a ‘pantser’ by preference, it seems surprising that I started to plan one of my characters in advance of writing his story. As with all my characters, I started with a picture. I wanted to write a book incorporating elements of the Selkie legends, to I had an idea of what my character’s looks should be. Enter Maximiliano Patane, totally un-Scottish, but the look was important. Then he had to have some background, because no one lives in a vacuum, particularly when you are something like the tenth book in a series. So we have Banquo O’Cearnaigh, a male Selkie as well as an oceanic environmentalist and marine biologist, who flies planes to help with wildfires and forest fires. He serves Amathaunta, and is familiar with the Lamashtu and Sekhmet links held by other characters.

His gifts from the Goddess free him from the seven year cycle of male Selkies, such that he can transform into his seal form or walk on land. He still retains his sealskin, He tries legal routes for protecting the oceans, but is not averse to less legal routes.

He studied Oceanography and Marine Biology at Bangor University in North Wales, having gone to university at the age of 17, graduating at 20. He joined the Royal Navy and served his 12 years commission.

After leaving the Navy, he moved first to the Orkney Islands before moving to the USA at the behest of his goddess. He settled in Cape May, NJ, living in a Victorian house which is much larger than he needs.

Banquo’s book has the provisional name of “Teine Is Usige” or “Fire and Water”. As with all my novels, it is an urban fantasy, with romance. The female lead is Aisha Steine, a mystery woman with a few more gifts than she is prepared to reveal to him.

My co-author and I have been working on the new book already, and so far, Banquo has been forced to admit that he knows her brother, which has her demanding if he was sent to keep an eye on her. In this day and age, she is anything but amused by her brother’s somewhat Neanderthal attitude.

I predict that their book could be quite an interesting one to write.

RELEVANT LINKS FOR JO PILSWORTH
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JKPilsworth

Paranormal may not be your thing. Urban fantasy may not either. But who knows? I may be one of your friends new favourite author.
Inspired by #Legends an #UrbanFantasy series.

AMAZON LINKS

Yes, I Am Still Writing … Romance’

Why shouldn’t I write romance? After all, it is one of the top-selling genres. Then again, it could be compared to Hollywood, and the number of would-be actors who are working low-skilled jobs whilst ‘resting’.

It is my own belief that the worse the world seems around us, the greater the need for us to believe that there is something better. That’s where romance comes into the picture. Then again, there are things like this:

Go on, click on the rose and see where it takes you. This is something that pops up on a regular basis. As a self-published author, one might think I would run a mile from initiatives such as this. However the fact is that even M&B have to find new talent. This is how they do it, for their specific sub-genres.

Okay, so there are rules. They are looking for clean romance. No swearing and no sex. The books are 50,000 words long, which is only just above a novella. They want strong successful women and men who match them. Sweet romance. In return, even if you are not what they are looking for, you will receive editorial feedback.