Hello, world! It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here, and I apologize for my absence! But I want to let you all know that my scarcity of late isn’t me neglecting you. It’s me making big changes.
First of all, the website itself underwent some serious fixing up on the back end, so I wasn’t able to post for a few weeks. And then I got word from my doctors that some mysterious medical issues I’ve been having were clearing up/not acutely harming me, and so I got a mostly-clean bill of health…
Which means I’m well enough to escape New York City at last. And so, my partner Jayel and I are peacing out!
We’ve been considering moving west for a long time; we both have family in Montana, and every time we visit it becomes more difficult to come back to the city. We both love being outdoors, not surrounded by noise and people all the time, and the transition back to city life gets harder each time. As you know, I’m sure, living in New York is extremely expensive, too. Jayel and I both make decent incomes on paper, but the expenses of living even a very frugal life in NYC left us as one of those couples who’s always working, with no time left over to enjoy living in NYC! Jayel and I both have creative projects that we want to work on, but because we work full-time jobs and do freelance work on the side to support ourselves, we have no time and even less energy to finish them. So we’ve been considering the possibility of packing up and moving somewhere cheaper, where we can survive on freelance income and still afford health insurance (NY state’s Obamacare plans are not cheap, folks). Some place that makes us happy. Some place where we won’t need to spend two hours a day on the subway. We thought we’d give it a try in a few years.
Then, a book deal I’ve been in talks about for years finally went through just a few months ago! I am now under contract with Overlook Press to write a book about the things I have learned about the adult entertainment industry, as a sort of Pornography 101 for the uninitiated. I hope to build a bridge between consumers who watch porn but don’t know much about it, and the industry itself. This is a bridge I’ve been trying to craft in my online writing for the past eight years, and now I’ve got the opportunity to build it in the form of a full-length book, and I really want to make it good. But, I realized that in order to write this book in a reasonable amount of time while also paying my bills (the advance is, shall we say, negligible… which is to say that I cannot quit my job and live on it in NYC, like, at all), I’d either have to quit doing freelance work and lock myself in my office for a year while continuing to work my day job… or quit the day job, leave New York, and be able to focus significantly more time, energy, and attention to the book while supporting myself doing freelance work.
And so the decision has been made! Our lease is up on October 15, and on that day we’ll be putting our houseplants and hamster in our new (well, “new to us”) car, and driving to Missoula, MT, to start a new life in the mountains! I’m so extremely grateful to have this chance, and I’m excited to start a new chapter in my life. I’m really hopeful that once we’ve gotten settled in Montana, I will have more freedom over my career as a writer. I hope to have more time for blogging, interviewing, and creating. I will write my book for Overlook, and then I will publish Tracy Queen, and then I will keep going! And (IMPORTANT NOTE) I will be able to travel at my leisure instead of on my weekends and company-approved vacation days, which means I may be able to come back to NYC for long visits and see everybody here whom I never get to see now because I work all the time! Ah, tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. And I’m going to work my butt off to make it happen.
So, in the meantime, folks… I’m reorganizing, culling, packing, and preparing. Gotta get my finances in order, gotta get rid of so much stuff, gotta burn CDs for this road trip because our car doesn’t have any auxiliary “in” jack and we are doing this Old School! So… I’m busy! So… I won’t be posting much for the next month.
Wish me luck, everyone! I’ll see you all from Montana!