Change in Mindset

As I end my first calendar month of retirement, I can't believe the changes in my life. The stress of security audits is gone. Managing employees is in my past. Having a set schedule is gone. Only being able to go to a barber shop or get allergy shots on weekends is gone. What has replaced all these things?

My primary "job" now is being a full-time novelist. That means doing character development, scene development, creation of settings, and picking beats for my next story. It also means doing a lot of research. My next novel will be based on crime. My research these days is picking a mystery genre. There are so many. I researched a straight crime thriller, a mystery thriller, and a serial killer thriller. I believe I will be doing the serial killer thriller because my idea for the next novel features a serial killer.

My wife and I have had AMC theater accounts since before COVID. Our accounts let us go to three movies per week. Pre-retirement, I was lucky if I could go to two movies on a weekend. Now, we can easily do three per week because we can go any day. Sometimes, we show up to a film on a Tuesday afternoon and are the only ones in the theater. It's like a private showing! This means our monthly cost is a value. Now, it only takes two movies to cover the monthly account expense. We went to nine movies in January.

My wife is the master cook in our house, and I help her. I am the master baker in our house, and she helps me. Pre-retirement, she didn't have much help, and I didn't do much baking. There wasn't enough time. Now we are making meals and sweets we haven't done in years.

Travel is on our agenda. We have trips scheduled to Northern Europe in August and September. We are also thinking about going to a national park in the spring. In June, we will attend the Tom Brady Patriots Hall of Fame night. Of course, we will return to the East Coast in the fall to attend Patriots games.

The other thing is we are back to walking a few days per week. I do the elliptical three to four days per week. This helps us keep our weight in check even though we have sweets around all the time.

These changes have put me in a new mindset. Hard deadlines are gone. If I tried to slow myself down, I think I could write the first manuscript for the crime book in seven to 10 weeks. Self-editing and professional editing will take four to eight weeks. That means I should have a new book to publish by July. I can use the second half of the year to plan the second novel in my planned trilogy.

Now, dismal Mondays or long Wednesdays are gone. Every day is fun for me. Working in the fictional world is delightful. I work on the novels on weekdays only. This was a promise I made to my wife in the dedication for my first novel. I spent over three years every weekend on that one. There is no need to do that anymore.