Nuttiness. Pure Nuttiness.

It seems that I can’t have anything calm. I’ve pushed myself really hard this week to prove that I can work on my novel, put in 15 hours with my job, fulfill my duties as Content Manager for Kombo, crank out content for my other two gaming websites, write my novel, and work on a game review. The answer is, I can’t. Notice I mentioned nothing of Gabe? Yeah, he’s been a bit neglected this week while I try to be super-writer. It hasn’t been fair to him, and my health has actually been suffering for the last couple of months because of this constant drive. Something has got to give, and the final decision was made last night.

I officially stepped down as Content Manager at a Team Leader meeting last night. I started to tally up how many hours I spend working on the site this past week, and it totaled to 4-6 hours A DAY. As much as I love the site and what I do with it, I can’t devote that much time with everything else I need to do and be a decent mother at the same time. I’m staying with Kombo as an editorialist, copy editor, and reviewer, but I’m no longer in charge of publishing and maintaining the website’s content. The EIC and I have delegated out that role between the Reviews and Editorials Directors, and with our new site in place with an easier to use CMS, it makes sense for us to move in that direction. I’m also leaving the database management position and asked a good friend of mine at Kombo to take it over along with my pay. So I won’t be getting that paycheck every month anymore, but I should be able to consistently work 15 hours a week with my professional writing job and make up for that missing salary. I’ll also be signing a writer contract with Kombo, so I’ll get paid peanuts for each article I write. My EIC assures me they’re delicious. But of course, I’m not leaving a leadership role. The EIC has asked me to stay on as Assistant Editorials Director, which involves no pay, but I’ll have more input in who we hire, who we keep, and how we train our features writers.

Anyone want a game writing gig? I can make sure your peanuts are honey roasted if you like.

Hopefully this will be the start of the somewhat calm for my stress levels, but knowing me, I’ll fill the time with something else. It doesn’t seem like I can function without going full throttle every hour I’m awake.