First my dog beat me up, then he wouldn’t go poo.

Today I was a very sad dog-momma indeed.

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For the past couple of weeks I have been fairly vague about an “upcoming change” in my life, an “edge of the cliff,” so to speak. Well, as an angsty teen I thrived on that sort pf mystery and ambiguity, but now, as a mature sophisticated adult (HAHAHA) I’m all about the honesty and directness.

(Mostly.)

So here’s the dealio:

I’m transitioning out of my current job (account management) into a part-time administrative role (at the same company) in order to spend more time on my writing.

The end.

(Sort of.)

To back-track: I’ve spent the past month freaking out about this, namely because my original plan was to just quit. But then I got this email saying that our current admin would start working Mon-Wed only, and we were hiring a temp until we found someone to take Thurs-Fri. For some reason I didn’t think my bosses would ever go for me being the Thurs-Fri admin, so I didn’t bring it up with anyone for several days. But while I was meeting with our Controller about my 1-year review, I felt so comfortable with her (because she is THE biggest sweetheart on this planet) that it all just kind of came out: wanting more time to write, possibly quitting, and wondering if (but not believing that) I might be able to be the second admin.

To my surprise, she didn’t think it was a bad idea. She and I spent a few hours ironing out the possibilities and setting up a plan to present to my bosses. And as if being a sweetheart weren’t enough, she is also clearly a MAGICIAN, because they went for it!

I could have fallen down dead right then and there from the shock.

Not only did they go for it, they were extremely supportive. Their willingness to let me stay a part of the team while following my own dream really showed me how much our company has grown in the past year. We may not be perfect, but we have good intentions, and I’m starting to feel like we’re a family.

So I’m sort of going from the Competent & Dutiful Daughter to the Harmlessly Aloof Aunt, but I’m hoping it will work out well for the family company, and especially for me and my writing.

It means a lot to me to have this opportunity. I’m thankful to everyone who’s helping me make this possible — my parents, Andy, my (work) family, my friends.

Now it’s up to me to make this successful.

Um, do you know how much it would cost to ship yourself to North Carolina from Ohio via FedEx Priority Overnight?

FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY SEVEN DOLLARS!

Five. Two. Seven. HUNDRED.

And that’s only if you weigh FIFTEEN pounds.

Yeah, needless to say, I asked the FedEx clerk if we could try another, cheaper service, because I think my boss would kill me if I brought back that receipt.

My morning writing sessions have been going pretty well this week. It’s certainly much easier to focus when Riley crawls into my lap and sleeps. Before, I had to keep him in the corner of my eye at all times, since I was never really sure whether his whimpers meant that he needed water, wanted to play, or was five seconds away from peeing on the carpet.

But then again, his adorable snuggly-ness compels me to hug and kiss and pet him a lot, which somewhat reduces my productivity. I guess you win some, you lose some.

Speaking of which… A few months ago, I sent one of my stories to Junot Diaz, the fiction editor at the Boston Review whose first novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao has been quite the success both with critics and the public. He responded personally, which is wonderful and rare, and one of his comments was that my story was “strong but young.” (See the win-some-lose-some connection there?)

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