It’s weird being fired.

I guess I assumed I wouldn’t be fired from a job. Quit, yes. Fired, no.

But there you have it – unemployed by someone else’s decision.

Hired

 

Truth be told, I’m not entirely surprised nor entirely saddened.

I was hired to do one job. It sounded like something I could do well. We – my boss and I – both were excited by the prospect.

Training was going well. I learned a lot. She’s an expert in her field, and it was amazing to watch her in action.

Then, she got an idea of a different direction – a new project. A big project. It would take all of us in a different direction, but it was OK, because it was still editing and managing. My hours and duties increased.

Looking back, I can see the signs. Isn’t that how it always is?

The rules kept changing, and I tried to keep up.

Perhaps you can’t teach this old dog new tricks.

Don’t get me wrong. I learned a lot. I’m grateful for the opportunity. That job let me get where I am right now – Portugal. Without it, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable making this leap.

And I really needed to come here, to do this, now. Even if I never get any place else in my life – and I seriously doubt that will be the case – I can point to this as something that I made happen, from start to finish. From just a glimmer of an idea to a three-month reality.

It proves that anything is possible – anything you want, you can make happen.

 

Fired

 

Well, OK, so I couldn’t keep my job. But it was more stressful and less enjoyable lately.

Instead of having the hours fly by, unnoticed, I was surprised that so little time had passed when I checked the clock. Really? I’ve only worked three hours? Then I’d do the math to see how many more hours I needed to do that day to hit my weekly limit. Yeesh.

I don’t blame her for letting me go. She has a business to run, and she felt like I wasn’t getting it. I feel badly about that. I’ve always prided myself on doing good work for my employers and being a person who made their jobs easier.

Most of all, I guess I’m just sad — sad it didn’t work out. I knew it wouldn’t last forever, but I hoped it would have lasted a little longer.

However, it’s not meant to be.

I will look for a job and work on my website. My original plan was to try and find a way to make my writing self-supporting. Perhaps this happened to help me get back on track with that. While I have continued to blog – although somewhat less frequently – I still write every day. But, I haven’t focused on the work I was doing to move my website forward.

Now, with more free time on my hands, I can put some hours back into that, which will benefit me. I’ll find another remote job to pay my expenses – at least I live pretty cheaply.

And, most of all, I’ll enjoy the time I have left in Portugal. It’s springtime, and the weather is lovely. As a friend said, there are worse places to be unemployed.

---

Be a Better Writer Tip

Do you struggle for topics when you write?

Is your time set aside for writing eaten up by trying to come up with a subject?

If so, you need a plan.

I heard a podcast (Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn) in which he talked about setting aside time to plan his blog subjects so when it comes time to write, he’s ready to go.

It’s a smart idea for a blog or any kind of writing.

In newspapers, we had regular weekly planning meetings, as well as meetings for long-term projects. For weekly meetings, reporters and editors would come with ideas to share, and we’d talk about what was happening and what we needed to cover for the week. We had daily meetings to discuss how things were coming together and where and when articles would publish.

We planned a lot out of necessity. If we’d come into work each day without a plan, we would have wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what to write about.

Those weekly story budgets we put together were gold. Next time, we’ll get into specifics of how to plan your writing.