Blogging: The first day of the rest of your Blog's life...

Recently, I applied for part-time hours at work, so that I could take one day a fortnight off from my 9-5 Public Service job, to focus on my Blog and to work towards making a career for myself as a professional Blogger.

Today was my first Friday off work.

My plan is to trial this for 3-6 months and to see where I am then, and potentially drop to eight days a fortnight then. Ultimately, I am hoping to leave the Public Service within two years, and to be professionally Blogging and making a decent income. That's my current plan and dream, in any event; and today I've taken my first steps towards realising it.
 

My very first step is converting our spare room into a functioning base of operations, and this is what I was working on today. In the photos above, you can see my collected rubbish spread about the place while I am trying to find a home for it and to make a decision as to what stays and what doesn't. Unfortunately, I'm a mild hoarder and a massive procrastinator, so the going was slow to say the very least.

While I worked today, I thought about how lucky I am to have this opportunity. I am lucky to have a workplace that is flexible enough to allow me the freedom to work part-time. I am lucky to have an amazing boyfriend who wholeheartedly supports my endeavors to follow my dream. I am lucky to have friends and family who believe in me and who will read my blog and offer me constructive criticism and support. And I am lucky to have met some truly inspiring power-house Bloggers, who have paved very different paths into the world of professional Blogging, which I can now  pick and choose to walk of my own accord.

Eventually, when I looked up from sorting stacks of magazine articals that I have saved for inspiration for Blog posts, I realised that I had cleaned out and organised a single shelf to a point that I was happy with (pictured below).

It may not seem like much now, but that one shelf with it's collection of style guides, notebooks and my Blog's branded stationary; represents the start of this next leg of the Ink & Leathers journey. And that is incredibly satisfying for a first day's work.