As you all probably know, Kevin and I were in St. Croix earlier this month.
And we had a fabulous time.
We also had extra time to talk and pray about our future.
Our book "business" is doing well, far better than we expected. We have managed a delightful combination of writing in a niche which has a lot of fans (Pride and Prejudice) AND I write fast AND I am creative.
That's my side of things. Kevin manages almost everything else. He is the one who handles marketing and editing and bank issues and all that.
We also have a delightful friend who is both editor and part time ghost writer. She writes amazing descriptive prose far better and faster than I do, so we are working together now. I still write most of the books, but she contributes and again, Kevin manages a lot of the interface between me and our friend.
AND we have seven kids at home, and two young adult daughters living not too far away.
We have busy lives. Very busy, very stressful lives.
While in St. Croix, we prayed about it and felt God was directing us toward a big change.
Namely, Kevin is taking an unpaid leave of absence from his job. He is going to take over some of the things I do so I can write more.
The leave of absence starts in a week!
It will last at least a few months. We are still uncertain about the situation past that, but this summer, yes, he will be off.
We are frankly super excited. The stress levels have been high trying to juggle his job, parenting, homeschooling, and writing.
We will both have less on our plates.
We will have more time for one another and the kids.
It is going to be good.
A big change, but good.
Lots of communication will be needed because naturally we don't do everything the same way.
But we have been married almost 26 years so we can make it work.
I am thrilled!
