Last week I quit my “day job” which had morphed into my early morning, day, and evening job. Working from home has been a blessing and a curse, and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything. What I was doing, however, simply wasn’t working.
I used to (still a difficult phrase to get used to) run a website that did news and reviews of video games and DVDs. It was something I have been doing for a while. Initially I started writing for other people’s website, eventually moving up the ladder to essentially be running what was at the time one of the major video game websites. A decade ago during a disagreement with the owner over pay, I decided to strike out on my own.
The reasons for quitting were numerous. Money and time were the two main ones. I would get up at 5 am just to have enough time to check email before the kids got up and I would help get them ready for school. After getting the school kids off I would try to get some work done while taking care of the younger children. During the afternoon nap time I would actually have up to 2 hours to dedicate to work. Then I would pick up kids from school, help with homework, get dinner made, etc. After the kids were in bed I would often sit in front of the television until 10pm or so working. The schedule was killing me. On top of that my expenditures were infinitely more than I was taking in.
It was one of the hardest things I have done. So much of my online identity has been wrapped up in that website I created. Virtually every social media outlet I used was for the promotion of that website. Account names were, for the most part, even based on the website. I truly regret my Steam account name now.
Over the years I expanded the website to include DVD/Blu-ray coverage because it was a natural extension to the coverage and I really like movies more than video games. Then I added a blog to fit in the stuff I wanted to that didn’t quite fit. Eventually it got to a point where the blog needed to take off and have its own space. That’s where this website comes in.
Now that I’m shuttering my old website (www.dignews.com for those who care) I need an outlet for the reviews I will be doing, so I have a new section here. The blog isn’t changing, there will still be the same parenting adventures posted on here, only now there might actually be more content on a daily basis. Instead of focusing on content for the old “day job” I can actually spend time writing blog posts. And doing the laundry, I guess.