My 2023 New Year Goal: Break up With My Main Side Gig by Year-End

This year, I hope to break up with my side gig.

It has been a reliable gig with the opportunity to earn, piecemeal, what I need to get by. Often, I can even make a bit more to slowly creep toward better opportunities.

But it takes a lot of time to be comfortable in this position, time that wasn’t spent writing the novel in my head or trying other things. The guaranteed low pay covered the higher credit card bills I had due to ordering more takeout and cooking less so I could work more. Some was spent on extra splurges that were more about easing my mind about a crappy existence than following my goals.

There is also an editor in this particular job that can’t help but make snide comments when she sees something I could have done differently. It’s fine to point out the guidelines, but there’s always an extra comment about (and I’m paraphrasing) how any idiot could have seen what I missed in proofreading. The pay is low enough that it’s getting less and less tolerable to hear comments that have (no exaggeration) made me almost cry a few times.

Overall, I’m on a low-paying treadmill that isn’t getting me where I want.

I’m not going to leave right away; I have two debts that I want gone this year, and unless that income is replaced, it…