I Got DOGEd. Then I Was Nudged to Write.

After eight years with the Federal government, I was DOGEd. Then I was nudged to write.

The DOGE-ing

I looked at the tenth shitty little email from DOGE, under the guise of our acting administrator, and felt despair.

His emails were bipolar.

One of the first emails DEMANDED we report anyone whom we thought might be a DEI hire IMMEDIATELY or suffer a terrible penalty (the penalty was left up to our imagination). It felt very biblical, wrath of a vengeful god kind of thing.

The next email told us how he hoped we could make work fun and enjoy being with everyone again, as we relocated from our home offices back to government offices full time.

It felt like a game of Russian Roulette each time I double-clicked on one of his emails.

This day, sadly, the bullet was in the chamber. It was my notification of RIF (Reduction In Force). It wasn’t unexpected, but it still hurt.

The Nudging

I started writing, learning, and submitting my work to contests in 2020 during the Pandemic.

Worried that my death was imminent, I was nudged to accomplish that thing I’d always put off. You know the one. That thing that if you don’t do it before you die, your life will be deemed incomplete and regretful.

My thing was to be a writer. I thought it would be cool. This was my first nudge.

Thankfully, I joined Vocal during that time. Each challenge they issued felt like an assignment or an exam that pushed and shaped my abilities. Sometimes I did well in the challenges and other times ... not so much. But I grew.

Then life got in the way, my job, my family, etc., you know the drill. The novelty wore off of my writing adventure, and it became a task rather than a joy. My writing faded.

More Nudging

My second nudge came after I was DOGEd. It was a whisper at first, like all nudges are, until it became a push.

As I filled out my eleventh job application, I noticed how sad I felt when I imagined I might get the job. This was the whisper.

After a while, each application I submitted made me think, Man, I wish I could write for a living. That would be cool. Eventually, this thought began to circle through my mind like a washer stuck on spin. Pushed on by this repetitive idea, I relented and turned my focus to writing again. Nudge received loud and clear.

Leap Taken

My strategy is to write every day, as everyone recommends if you're serious about being a writer, and to soak in as much knowledge as possible.

I know that writing is not for the faint of heart. The fear of rejection is real. My insecurities pop out of places in my psyche that I didn't even know I had, and the fear of failure is even greater than all of the other fears combined.

That's okay. I'm sure I will fail at first, but as Margaret Atwood said in the Master Class episode I just watched:

"You become a writer by writing. There is no other way. So do it. Do it more. Do it again. Do it better. Fail. Fail better."

My Focus

My range is an eclectic mix of short story fantasy, romantacy, and sci-fi, with a smattering of writing tips in between.

I twist fairy tales into adult-themed stories, where good becomes bad and bad becomes something else.

Since I like romance, you might see a story about a mermaid struggling with life as a human, who gets romantically entangled with the Korean god of hell (this is a work in progress).

I wrote a humorous story of a farmer who meets a time-traveling, talking chicken. It made me chuckle out loud while writing it. There will be more of those funny stories in the future.

Whatever the genre, I hope to connect with you.

As always, thank you for reading.

S.J. Frederick