I’ve always believed that fortune favors the bold. Unfortunately, for too many years I was afraid to be one of them. I was stuck in a great big rut.

With the full support of a pretty amazing partner, I finally took a very bold step last December. I left the security of a stable pay cheque and the prestige of being a director in order to be my own boss and focus on my own writing. Whenever people hear what I was getting paid in my last position, they are shocked that I would make such a dramatic move. To them I say:

Money isn’t everything.

In fact, some of my colleagues suspect I must have had another job lined up, but for the first time I leapt into thin air, trusting that the net would appear. And you know what? It did.

I have been continually amazed by the vast quantity and quality of the freelance work I’ve received since I left my full-time office job. It truly astounds me and humbles me. Some months I have earned the same amount I took home from my director gig, but it’s not the money that makes me happy. It’s the freedom, the personal satisfaction, and knowing that I call the shots and make the decisions in my career and in my life. The people I’m working with now only care that the work is done. They don’t care how I do it, when I do it, or what I’m wearing when I do it. And with very rare exceptions, there are absolutely no meetings.

There is a very good chance I’ll never see the inside of a boardroom again, and that alone makes me happy.

Early Tuesday morning I received some REALLY good news…a publisher requested my full manuscript. This was a request for Lost, which I was planning to self-publish and which many of you have seen the cover for. I thought, “if someone wants to handle some of the marketing and distribution for this book, why not?”

There are no guarantees, of course. The publishers may not like Lost. Or they may not feel it’s right for their list. No matter. The request itself is a win–a sign that I absolutely, definitively did the right thing when I walked away from my job and struck out on my own.

Some people tell me I’m living their dream. To them I say: if this is your dream, do it. It takes some planning, but even with planning it will be scary as hell. You’ll have to deal with a whole whack of insecurities you didn’t know you had. But it’s worth it. And it works out in the end.

So far, I’m living proof of that.

I’d like to thank all my friends who supported me along this journey, as well as everyone who voted for me in the Rhemalda Publishing contest. I am so grateful to have such a strong network of people who want me to succeed, and I’ll spend every day striving to live up to your faith in me. Thank you. xoxo