About a week and a half ago I wrote a blog post in which I pretty much laid myself bare. I was brutally honest about several things–some pertaining to me and some that speak more to the experience of being a middle-aged woman.
The response to that post was amazing. I linked to it on Facebook, and the comments were affirming and heartwarming. At least a half-dozen people privately messaged me to share their own thoughts and experiences. One person messaged me to ask if he could share the post with his wife, who teaches a Women’s Studies course (I said yes.) Although some of my family members did not react completely positively to the post, and it was scary as hell for me to be that honest, all in all it was a positive experience. It really caused me to turn a corner I’d been needing to turn.
I’d certainly peeked around the corner several times, but had never fully stepped out. That post was my stepping out. That post was the moment I really embraced the label writer and decided I was going to stop being so afraid to fail at the writing thing.* Although the post was about other things as well (finding myself without paid work, being middle-aged and overweight and knowing how society views that), at a deep, personal level I shifted. I shifted from hoping I could be a writer to deciding I would be one.
It feels good.
As a result of that post, another amazing thing happened. I was offered an editing gig. It’s part-time for now, and I’m technically a contractor (which is how I’ve been employed for my last several jobs anyway, minus the Barnes & Noble stint.) But I’ve been wanting to do real editing work for many years, and I love the idea of helping other authors achieve their dreams. I’m really excited about this! It will also inform my own writing, and show me more of the publishing cycle.
I’ll be editing for Tulip Romance, currently a small start up. The owner previously owned another press, however, so she knows her stuff!
I hope you’ll visit occasionally to see where this road takes me 🙂
* I will also be blogging more frequently. Some of it will be the keeping-it-real type stuff like last time, and some will be humorous. I’ll post periodic updates on my own writing as well.
