Clearing the decks

So… you sell your house, get rid of “stuff” then relinquish the work contacts and commitments you’ve built up over 30 years.

Then what? Well, that’s the work in progress.

I came to the conclusion  in 2012 that I’d written about other peoples lives for too long. I enjoy interviewing folk about their stories but time was moving on and I needed to make some stories of my own. I longed for a mixture of real life adventures and the time to write the fiction I’ve dabbled with over the years.

But creating that sort of freedom and time requires sacrifice. There was no other option, my house had to go. A home with three bedrooms was an extravagance for one person, and the attic was jammed full of excess things I didn’t want.

So the clear-out began. The charity shops were inundated, the cat was “sold” with the house and my minimised worldly goods were packed into a corner of a garage. My friends raised eyebrows and looked concerned but  offered beds whenever I needed them.

I was homeless, unemployed and single. I had cleared the decks and had no commitments. I was ready for my adventure.