Now What?

Now that I've finished Dark Water and have sent it out to various publishers, I find myself in a position where I ask myself, "Well, now what?"

I've had a routine since I lost my job, in March of 2025. I was sort of glad that I was suddenly given a lot of time because I wanted to write a new novel but I had a full-time job and was usually pretty busy in the evenings, working on this blog, on YouTube videos, and other activities.

Getting laid off afforded me the time to work on Dark Water but I knew that I should look for work as soon as I had a solid draft finished. In September, I started looking for a new job.

Trying to find a worthwhile writing job was tough, especially when most of the posted jobs were to teach AI how to write better. Essentially, I was training a computer to do my job. So after applying only to jobs that really interested me, I started looking less and less, and started contemplating retiring for good.

I'm not yet ready to declare that I'm retired but I won't accept anything that won't bring me joy. Not for the few years I have left before I'm ready to enjoy retirement.

I also realized that Dark Water wasn't ready to submit to a publisher. I needed to tighten it up and make it as close to polished as I could. I started reading, editing, rewriting, and reading again. I gave it to some more friends to read, and some of them did a thorough editing of the manuscript.

Last week, I put the final touches on Dark Water, wrote a query letter and a full synopsis, and submitted it to about a half-dozen publishing companies. I submitted it to a few more this week.

And that's when I thought, now what?

Well, winter is supposed to be over and spring is starting to work its way in. Last weekend, I saw street cleaners out in full force, and the roadways are looking better. It's time to pull out my road bike and start getting in shape for a trip DW and I are going to make with some friends.

I've gone into my garage and found some things that we should sell. I still have the summer tires and wheels for our Honda CR-V, which was totalled in December. People are looking to swap out their winter tires and I think now's the perfect time to get them out of the garage.

We also have a bike rack for the back of the CR-V, and that will go next.

There are some maintenance and reno projects to do around the house. Last November, I started ripping up the carpeting on our staircase, but I took a break when I pulled a muscle and when we had friends visiting from out of town, and I never resumed that project.

With milder weather, I can go outside and clean our windows. Now is a perfect time to get that done. And as soon as all of the snow has left our lawns, I can get out and rake them: not to remove leaves (I did that in the fall) but to stimulate the grass and get any garbage that might have blown on our lawn and been buried by snow.

I can also get out more with my camera. I've always wanted to do that (frankly, nothing's really stopped me).

I'd like to master my drone, so I'll try to get out and find a safe place to do that. I plan to use it more with my videos so the sooner I master the drone, the better.

Soon, it'll be time to get my kayak out and paddle the waterways around home. I'm looking forward to that.

I also have five chapters of the next Calloway and Hayes mystery written. I've decided to wait until I hear from a publisher for Dark Water before I put more effort into The Watcher. If I have to publish the first book by myself, I will, but I don't want to invest more time into mystery writing until I know I have a potential audience.

I have other friends who are retired so I'll make time to see them more often. I'll be doing some of that, tomorrow.

But apart from these activities, I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to spend my days. When I officially declare I'm retired, what then?

Retirement might be harder than I first imagined. But I guess only time will tell what I do next.