A Victim of the Times... or a Blessing in Disguise?

Yesterday I got laid...

Uh, off, that is.

Now there's no need to panic. Don't go feeling sorry for poor Ol' Ron. Let there be no weeping or wailing or gnashing of teeth. This was a voluntary lay-off. I'll be drawing a check from Uncle Sam and keeping my health insurance. It's only supposed to be for 30 days. Then I'll be going back... if my plant is still open. The company has closed down two plants in the last couple of months, and we haven't exactly been making money hand-over-fist.

I took their offer because, well frankly, it's better than what I had before. Driving twenty miles into work at six o'clock in the morning and having to clock out at eleven, if I was lucky. Heck, I only got in 11 hours last week. You can't take care of a wife and three young'uns on pocket change.

So now I'll stick around the house here for a while and keep my fingers crossed that things will get better at work. Maybe I'll keep Ryan at home with me a couple days a week and save a few bucks on daycare and do some chores around the house. Who knows? This may turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

And I can write! Lord knows, I need the opportunity to do that. It seems like in the last few weeks I've been swamped with anthology and short story requests, which is a good thing (you'll hear no complaints from me on that point). I have three or four projects in the works with Cemetery Dance alone. They even invited me to write a Signature Series book, which I'm downright excited about. And the Somewhere South of Hell anthology is beefing up beautifully. I just accepted some great stories from James Newman, John Hornor Jacobs, Scott Nicholson, and Jason Brannon. Nate Southard sent me one last night that I'm chomping at the bit to read. And I've got to sit down and work up a proposal for a brand-new novel.

So it ain't like I'll be sitting around the house on my butt watching Days of Our Lives or Oprah. I've got plenty to occupy my time. And in the meantime, I'll pray that this economic stimulus deal works a Jesus-sized miracle and pulls us all out of this deep, dark hole we've dug for ourselves. I ain't gonna hold my breath though. You could bust a blood vessel that way.

If y'all need me, you know where I am.