The aftermath of the storm.

Consider this post an interlude:

For those that don't know, there was a rather intense storm this past weekend that leveled a great number of trees, rendered roads dangerous and left millions of people powerless.

My whole town was without power until yesterday. And actually, my house was the last house in town to get power restored to it.

The culprit for the town was the electrical substation. The culprit for my house was an old tree in the front of the house that decided this weekend was a good time to lay down, and hey, since the power wires were just sitting there, they should come down too. Into my yard. Into my wet, water-logged yard.

The result was no damage to the house (although the tree briefly rested against the roof), but it tore the wires out rather violently and I'm sure had the power somehow stayed on, there would have been some rather epic 80s-style explosions.

Without power, I lose internet access.
Without power, I lose phones.
Without power, I lose refrigeration.
Without power, I lose heat.

I note each of those separately for a deliberate reason - each of them was a point of contention between me and another person.

The lack of heat led to me being very grumpy.
The lack of refrigeration wasn't really a problem until the food started thawing and spoiling, and I've since filled my garbage cans to the brim with stinky bags. Sorry garbage guys.
The lack of phones led to quite a few angry emails between me and people who wanted to know why I wasn't working.
The lack of internet access led to quite a few more angry emails about why I wasn't working.

Oh, I did check my email, I did listen to the voicemail from my cable company saying they had emailed me directions on what to do about getting my cable restored - I just had to drive 30 minutes and inconvenience my grandfather to do it (his town was totally fine). But, you ask, why did you check your email and voicemail, but didn't do the work you know I wanted done, you ask?

Because quite frankly, when there is no power in your house for a few days, and when you're cold and in the dark and frustrated, the one thing I don't want to do is write words on a website.

In fact the disconnect from my usual routine allowed me to see that I really don't like writing words on websites that much anymore, and effective Jan 1, 2012, I won't be doing it any longer - because what I really want to do is create fiction - books, television shows, RPGs, plays...all kinds of creative things like that. I don't want to spend time having to worry about someone else's Google Adwords, I don't want to have to endure the client's confusion that I'm somehow both tech support and web design (when I'm neither)...and so, I'm not going to focus on that.

The storm showed me that I'm not looking at the opportunities best for me. And then I read this blog post, and it was confirmed.

Universe, you're awesome.

--The Writer Next Door