Thursday, January 19, 2012

Rewarding Risks

All though my life I've taken chances. Not the gambling kind, and not stupid ones like getting involved with drugs or anything illegal. Just small risks. Like going white water rafting or taking up in line skating in my fifties. I had to give up the skating when I discovered that falling down at that stage of life hurt a lot more than it did as a child.

The most satisfying risks involved learning something new. In my career, I often volunteered for projects I'd never done before. Then I'd panic. Unwilling to fail, I'd learn what I needed to make the project a success. This boldness often led to promotion and reinforced my desire to seek out and conquer other challenges.

Writing novels has been one of those challenges. At the beginning I was convinced that I was not a creative person and I had no stories inside struggling to be told. However, I was bored, so I sat down at my computer and a whole new world opened up to me.  As the story evolved and the characters came to life, I found the excitement I'd been looking for.Within six months I'd finished my first novel.
It was only after that I read books on writing, joined writers groups, and went to seminars.

The best part of writing is that it necessitates continual learning. I've researched anatomy and Mayan mythology, mastered new formatting techniques and computer shortcuts. I've joined facebook and learn to blog. Tweeting may be next.

The world I grew up in is nothing like the world of today, but instead of feeling like an outsider looking in, writing has been my key to keeping tuned in, turned on and feeling young.

1 comment:

  1. The possibilities are definitely endless, aren't they? :)

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