PS Love Blog

Writing is what I do, what I love. So, it was with great sadness that I had to quit my writing job at Casino Guide this week.

As some of you know, I am also a businesswoman. I started SoapCrafters.com on the Internet back in 1998. I started it in a spare bedroom in my apartment with fifty dollars and what I had around the house. The company grew and grew and earned me two awards for being one of the top 100 fastest growing companies in Utah. In 2006, I was getting burned out. I’m an entrepreneur, not an executive, you know? I felt I should retire and pursue my true calling, writing. So I sold the company and moved to Vegas, the spot in the west I love the most.

Murphy’s Law can be such an icky thing. Just after I came to a contract agreement with Casino Guide to write their blog, the people I sold to defaulted on the sale of SoapCrafters.com. After much legal crap, I drove to Utah to see what was left of my company. I packed up the fraction of the inventory that was remaining into at 24’ foot semi-truck and shipped it down to Las Vegas. I was going to have to start the company all over again with what was left.

Being stubborn, I wasn’t going to give up the writing job. Writing is all I ever wanted to do! So for the past one and half years I have been doing both. And for the past few months it has been killing me to do both. Something had to give.

SoapCrafters.com is doing great and sales have tripled from where it was when I took the name back. My full attention is now needed and I can no longer split my focus between the two things. The company has to come first. My writing job paid great, but the dot.com is the big asset, it is my retirement fund. So, on Sunday, I wrote to my editor letting him know I could not write for them anymore.

I have had such a fun time covering stories in Las Vegas. I’ve met some really cool people, some famous and some not so famous, and everyone has been wonderful. I’ve made a lot of really cool, new friends. I’ve learned a lot, as I’ve never done this type of reporting before. My past experience was limited to a short time reporting at a small Michigan newspaper, my personal blog for creative writing and articles for periodicals. Doing things that were more entertainment related is so much more fun! I have enjoyed every minute of it.

My week is now spent pretty much chained to my desk in my warehouse’s office. On the bright side, I actually get the weekends off and I’m thinking of even (gasp!) taking a vacation. I will still continue to write, because that is what I’m born to do. My writing now will be limited to occasional freelance work and writing for my own personal blog here. When a good story lands in my email inbox, I will be on it. But realistically, I will probably only do a story every week or two. Here on this blog, I will continue to post the media releases I receive, and the great cheap deals at the local casino hotels. I will jump on the more interesting stories I see and actually write my own from time to time to post here for you to read.

I have actually had some real desire lately for doing a little investigative reporting. How I’m going to keep from doing that, I’m not sure…. So stay tuned on that.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my articles I posted at Casino Guide, it was a real joy to work for them. Where else can you write and you pretty much only hear from your editor when they want your invoice so they can pay you? That was one awesome job. Maybe after a year or more of growth with the soap company I can go back and write for them again. In the meantime, I’ll write as much as I have time for and keep my life in better balance.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe time with the holidays in the coming weeks. I’ll likely be just lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling and smiling. Life is good.