Well folks, strap your seatbelts on. I'm about to dive out into the great unknown and try to forge a writing career for myself. I quit my job to write.
(Waits for a minute...)
Yep. You heard me. I quit my job. To write.
Think I'm stupid to give up the income? That's your right. You can think I'm stupid, crazy, irresponsible, whatever you want. It's okay. But I want this. I've been wanting this for a long time. I think the biggest mistake I've made with my career was to give up pursuing journalism out of fear. That's what I did you know. I was a reporter in college. For the Beverly Times. I loved doing it. I was having a great time pursuing leads, writing feature stories, and getting to know the people in my community (at the time). So why did I quit you ask? Fear. Plain and simple fear.
My coworkers had me convinced that because the divorce rate was so high in the field (I don't really know what the rate is...but I had been told)that maintaining a relationship while trying to be a writer was impossible. I wanted a family...badly. So I let go of the writing thinking that was a sacrifice I needed to make in order to have a happy family. What a dumb thing for me to do.I regret ever walking away from writing.
On second thought, I have no regrets. I wanted a family and that was my priority. I pursued a good, strong family and now I have that. I love my husband, my kids are the best I could ask for, and I have a great home in which we all live. I have two dogs and a cat, a nice yard and wonderful neighbors. So I'm living the dream.
Now it's time to expand my dream. My children are getting older and don't need my attention in the same intensive way that they did when they were infants and toddlers. It's time to start a career. One that I can be happy with and proud of.
I had a hard time quitting. I kept hearing the naysayers in my head telling me that I was making a mistake to give up the income I was giving up. There were many reasons for hanging on to the job. But there was always one reason to let it go...I was unhappy not pursuing my writing career. The third shift that I worked always left me tired and unable to be present for several days afterwards. But I don't need to make excuses. I want to pursue a writing career. That's what I'm going to do.
Thank God for my husband. He is a wonderful, supportive and loving man. He knows why I need to do this and supports me 100%. Literally now (ha, ha).
So what am I going to write? A combination of things. I'm going to blog...I'm going to work on a couple of the fiction pieces that I have been working on in NanoWriMo (check out www.nanowrimo.org if you don't know what I'm talking about)and I am writing a book on grief and grieving. I'll keep you posted about my work as it develops. Let me know what you think of it, please. Just be kind if you don't like it. And specific. Be specific about why you don't like it if you don't like it and just as specific if you do like it. I want to become an excellent writer and need feedback in order for that to happen.
I'll be posting some of my writing soon. I'll post links to it as I complete it. I would love to know what you think of it. And tell anyone you think might want to read what I write! It would be nice to have a following.
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