Joseph Nassise

Last month I started telling you about my recent leap of faith off of a very large cliff. I was searching for my passion, trying to rekindle that desire to write that had launched my career four years earlier. I had discovered that my typical day was extremely lopsided, that the very thing I had been so passionate about was the thing that got the least of my time and attention during the day.

And that let me know why my passion had disappeared. Instead of coming to my writing refreshed and ready to go, I was coming to it exhausted, worn out from a long day of working a 50 hour or more a week job and then spending necessary time with my family. Because of that schedule, my writing went from being a joy to being a chore – something that had to be done only because I was determined to do it.

Recognizing that fact was important. It told me that I had to make some long term decisions about my writing career. Was it really something I wanted to do for the rest of my life? Why did I want to do it? What did I hope to gain out of it? How far was I wiling to go? The scene from Untouchables popped into my head over and over again, the one where Malone (played by Sean Connery) is lying there dying and he grabs Elliot Ness (played by Kevin Costner) by the vest and pulls him in close and asks the fateful question that send Ness on his rampage – “what are you prepared to do?”

What was I prepared to do indeed?

That required some thought. A lot of thought. I wasn’t just making decisions for myself, but was making decisions that would also effect my family. And I had to answer more questions. Did I really think I could do this? Could I achieve the goals I wanted writing what I was currently writing? How long did I think it would take to reach some of those goals? The answers to these questions would radically impact my decision making process.

One thing was clear – if I wanted to make a career at writing, I needed to come to it with my best foot forward, not at the end of the day when I was worn out and exhausted. (And just so no one thinks I didn’t consider this option, the pre-dawn hours had been previously tried as well. Tired is tired, simple as that for me.)

In the end, I had to take a leap of faith. I had to devote serious time to my pursuit of a writing career if I wanted it to succeed. I had to set specific goals with specific deadlines and realistically pursue those goals with everything I had in me. Sounds a bit cold and scientific, doesn’t it? But the truth was that if I wanted my dream I had to pursue it with a bulldog’s determination rather than simply wishing for it to happen one day.

With the full support of my wife and family (and thank God for all of them) I made my choice.

We’d been working toward certain family goals for a while – paying off the credit cards, paying off the car loans, paying for the kids’ private school a year ahead, putting a year’s salary in the bank – and those provided the background for what I intended to do.

Against all conventional wisdom, I took a leap of faith – in myself, in my talent, in my dreams. Sixty days ago I gave my notice – I would be leaving my well-paying day-job and concentrating on my writing career full time for one year. I had 365 days to make my goals become a reality. After all, you can’t walk on water unless you get out of the boat, right?

I had a sixty day notice clause in my contract, so that my sales and management efforts could be handed off without disruption, so I couldn’t leave right away. But the day after making my decision, my writing took off like a rocket. I came to the computer ready to write, dammnit! And I did. In the last sixty days, I’ve written an entire novel. And it’s good – far better than anything I’ve done in the last year or two. Having the time, energy and focus I needed made an incredible difference in my work, just as I had hoped.

Today, Sept 15^th, is my last day on the job.

Tonight the clock starts ticking.

I’ve got 365 days.

And I intend to make the most of them.

After that we’ll see where the road takes me…