Challenges of Starting a New Writing Career

Back in 2005 I retired from the Vancouver Police Department to become a civilian police dispatcher for VPD at ECOMM for Southwestern BC. The plan was for me to work a few years to pay off the mortgage and then retire completely from law enforcement in order to pursue my writing full time. Then the economy went pear shaped, prices went up, the number of shifts went down, and my finish line started to slide further into the distance. Stress was taking its toll on me and I started to reassess what I was doing.

At the end of April 2013 I made a decision: Sell the house, move to a cheaper house in Sechelt, BC, and retire as soon as possible. I know that I startled a lot of people with the sudden news of my impending retirement and move. My wife and I succeeded in achieving this, with me retiring in July 2013 and moving to the new home at the beginning of August.

This was a big readjustment, and for months I’ve been packing, staging, unpacking, renovating, and otherwise establishing a new life for myself. Retiring was the best decision I’ve made in a while: I’ve experienced much needed healing. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned necessities of re-establishing our home, I’ve not been able to spend any time writing. I’d accepted this as part of the plan before I started packing. It’s taken a bit longer than I’d hoped (as is often the case in life), but I’m now about to get going on that writing. I never viewed this change as a retirement. Rather, I saw it as a change in profession to full time writer.

So stay tuned. I’ve got the third book in my sword and sorcery Purification Trilogy nearly done and hope to have it out in November, and I’m already forming the ideas for a new paranormal romance trilogy.