Turbulence ahead!The last couple of weeks knocked me around. Intel, where I work, announced 15,000 job cuts, which is 15% of the workforce. My projects are quite safe, for reasons I'm sure it would be improper for me to share, BUT for the first time, I'm old enough that I've been offered a retirement package. I've worked there 27 years! That's kinda crazy to think about. Longer than I've been married. Twice as long as my youngest kid has been alive. I don't have enough money to retire--I still have three daughters in high school (okay, one in 8th grade), who will either need money for college or bail money. Either way, if I take the deal, I have to find another job, and finding another job is SCARY (see the 27 years clause above). I know how my job works; I'm scared to death that I've become too Intel-centric and will fail with similar companies. Also, there's lots of warning signs that the tech industry is about to take another nose dive. It would be disastrous to take the early retirement and then NOT find another job. Yet, I hate not doing things just because they're scary, so I've got an internal tug-of-war going on. Right now, I'm leaning towards taking the offer. I am loyal to a fault, but Intel would rather pay me a chunk of change than have to keep paying me--in other words, in their eyes, they're so much better off without me that theyβre willing to pay me to leave. I've worked past feeling disloyal--in a financial sense, the loyal thing for me to do is leave, since that's what they think is best. π€― Anybody gone through this choice and want tell me about the light at the end of their tunnel? Or the train it was attached to? π«£ In addition to the work drama, we have multiple elder-care situations going on. Tough decisions to be made. I can't help but feel a little sad thinking about my kids having to go through this with me and my wife some day. :( On the seemingly bright side, my oldest daughter turned 18! It did have a lot of positive points. But it also came with more drama than I expected. There were conflicts of expectations between my daughter and me that caused grief. I grew up with three brothers and a sister in a rural tableau, and now I'm raising three girls in a more urban setting. Let's just say my "normal" from my youth didn't mesh. I wish I could have a do-over for her birthday, now that I understand the expectation on things my daughters all agreed I should just know. π€·ββοΈ The deal for that litRPG Iβd mentioned seems to have fallen through. We had a verbal agreement on contractual points. Their lawyer was going to write it up, and I never heard from them again. π€·ββοΈπͺ Moving on... I canβt remember whether I mentioned redoing the cover for Mother of Trees. I tried to create something that aligns better with genre expectations in order to get more click-throughs to purchase. Let me know what you think. It hasnβt gone live yet, but Iβm locked into the image. Book 2βs cover will align with that theme (scheduled to start that cover late August). I have the structural edits back for Book 2, and Iβm working through them. Itβs not going quickly, but not a snailβs pace either. Iβve sent out some independent emails for writers (about marketing, not writing)β¦ if youβre interested, let me know and Iβll tag you to get them too. My next one will be learnings on Facebook Ads. βAll books by Steven J. Morrisβ Indie Author ShowcasePrevious Newsletters
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I had a couple of things I wanted to mention. One is what looks like a weird new scam that I haven't worked out yet, and the other is just an update on how I'm doing in marketing. Scam Alert! So, the potential scam. I received an email that looked like this: Your book just gained new reviews from my readers community.<screenshot of a GoodReads book review>Did you get it?Looking forward to hearing from you I followed up with a couple of emails, and I basically think the paid-book-review people...
Last week was Homecoming week, and my younger two girls are both now in High School. It's really something watching how much effort the girls (and their mom and other girls' moms) put into the preparation. Meanwhile my oldest had a rugby tournament, where they awarded her MVP. Certainly a better way to spend her time than watching that Arkansas v Notre Dame football game. Brutal. Yes, to relax, she does rugby and boxing. Any wonder I came up with Red? Really miss having my oldest girl around....
We're a few weeks into the school year, and settling in to the new/old routine, more or less. With my oldest off to college, and my youngest now in High School, I'm getting sentimental about all the lasts. Last time I'll help one of them learn geometry. Last time I'll teach one to drive. Last time I'll find a "box of strawberries" in the fridge that is nothing but stems. It's funny how even the things you don't like become things you miss, innit? My oldest sent me one of her papers from...