Comfort Zone or Pandemonium?

Buckling down and getting serious about my writing career means an entire life upheaval in the beginning. But isn’t that true with just about any new endeavor someone sets out on? No matter what new thing enters our life, chaos is sure to ensue while trying to fit it in.

I mean, new romantic relationships start taking time away from time formerly spent with others, and fresh hobbies steal moments from what used to be free time. So if my world is going to heave its kind of nice to know it will be for the betterment of my career at least. That is, as soon as I drag myself out of the house.

I’m considering joining up with a local writer’s group. Why not right? There is nothing about networking with other people in my industry that can hurt. Even if we don’t click, at least I’ll meet some new and inspiring characters out of the deal. Of course, again, in order to meet them I need to stop writing and actually leave the house.

I guess it just nerves me to think that if I’m out there observing characters (especially an entire table full of other writers) and then using them as inspirational fodder for my work, how can I ever know they aren’t doing the same to me? I can’t. So I guess that’s just the chance I have to take right? Who knows, maybe I’ll be interesting enough to become someone’s character.

And speaking of characters, it’s high time I started pulling out all the notes I’ve randomly scribbled into an almost full notebook over this past year and organize them into some kind of outline and background because I can’t even think about how fast NaNo is approaching. Funny, everywhere I went last year it seemed that very notebook and a pen came with me.

You know how there are some women that always have a bobby pin or a girlie product in their bag when you covertly insert yourself into their world to ask for one while standing in a public restroom? Yeah, well I’m the one who will always have a pen.

Because of that, my house is overflowing with free pens from anywhere and everywhere. Just this past Sunday our team -- The Forget Me Nots, Boston -- participated in the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk to raise money and awareness about this disease. With that many day care facilities, nursing homes and hospitals sharing information there were bound to be a few giving away pens.

I came home with three, one blue which is already in the Goodwill box, and two black which are now located in the living room and my purse.

The last pens I actually bought were the red Bic ones that I used to edit last year’s book. Call me crazy but seeing red for the changes that needed to be made had me noticing them more easily. I guess that’s why a lot of Editors use them. Though I am just taking a guess there, I don’t have an Editor yet so I have no idea what color ink they actually prefer.

Maybe they favor purple ink like Lucile Burt, Creative Writing teacher from my senior year of high school, did. Or perhaps they prefer graphite, or blue ink, so their suggestions for improvement stand out against the black typeface.

Whatever they use, I can’t wait to find out. I just pray it isn’t hemorrhaging all over the page.

Then again, so what if it is. There is nothing in this world that you have to work for that isn’t worth it in the end right? I’m ready to be up-heaved and forced outside of my little bubble of safety. Bring it.