I've been working hard for 15 years, but even though I really do only three things in my life (Joshua, work and writing), I still feel like I am short-changing him and me. So, I made a budget, reduced my expenses and concluded that, with only savings, I would be able to take 2 years off work.
So, come the end of June, no more daycare for Joshua, all summer long or during the school year. I'll pick him up at school everyday at 3pm and we'll ski or skate or sled or read or whatever we want. On his mother's days, I'll drop him off with her after my patented papa daycare.
And when he's in school or with her, I'll write. I have far more ideas and writing plans than I can do anything with, so I'll try to take advantage of these two years to write 2,000 words per day, 5 days a week, 10 months a year. If my math isn't wrong, that could be anywhere from 500,000-800,000 words in two years. And if I make any money from that, it's just bonus.
I'll also catch up on reading and TV (I haven't really paid much attention to TV since the year 2000) and socializing and volunteering. I've wanted to become far more involved with SFWA for a while, and I'd really like to help continue to grow Ottawa's literary speculative fiction community.
I'm excited about this, as is Joshua. I'd rather have time than money and some job will be waiting for me when I get back :-)