I can see Chris’ face now – he has become the topic of a blog post! So this week, I was lucky enough to meet Chris, the Gibtown Runner himself, in person, while he was in town on business. We went for a run last night along the Charles River, and now I think he’s understanding completely why I say that Boston is such a runner’s town. So many people outside running, day and night.
But really, it was so nice to talk to him in person, and feel very comfortable doing so, like I’d known him for much longer than I otherwise would have after the first meeting in person. We all know, there is so much stuff you cannot say on a blog, for whatever reason, because once it’s out there on the Internet, it’s out there. You can never take it back. Chris, you now have a running partner whenever you are in Boston, if you want one!
It could be that we’ve all been house and snow-bound for way too long, or maybe it’s because this city is going through a re-birth, as Anne put it when commenting on D.C. during the Cherry Blossom festival period of the year. Literally, the tres have been developing buds and leaves over the last 4 days. The hostas planted around the outside perimeter of our front lawn have been growing by inches over the past few days, and I mean, literally, inches. And our little tree that flowers for just 3-4 days per year, already bloomed earlier this week. (And yes, I did take a picture, I will post it later on today when I download it from my camea.) Hey, Kara, maybe I’ll make that my Twitter icon image! (I need help, people, most of my images are too large for Twitter, over 700k, and I’m not sure how to make them smaller. I know, get googling.)
Ok, so back to the topic of this post. Chris asked me last night where I see myself in five years. I think I now know the answer. In the same spirit as Lisa wrote on her blog a few days ago, here’s my goal.
- I want to be a published fiction writer in the next 5 years. I’ve now put it out there.
- And I don’t just want to be someone who publishes a book five people outside of my immediate family read – I want it to be bigger than that.
To be a better writer, I have to get down to the “basic me” and try to not edit myself so much. It’s funny, but I have no problem with mentioning certain things on this blog. Yet, when I’m working on a piece of my book, and Bill walks near the computer, I tend to close up the screen. It’s my fear that he will read it and won’t like it, but won’t want to tell me that for fear of hurting my feelings. Because that’s what family is supposed to do, right? Support you. My mom tells me I am very lucky to have my husband. She’s right. (Yes, Mom, miracles do happen, even your daughter that made your life complete hell when she was a teenager, can agree with you while you’re still alive.)
Am I setting myself up for failure with this goal? Perhaps. Am I setting myself up for disappointment? Perhaps. Am I happy with the way things are in my life right now? Not completely. I would definitely like to feel more fulfilled and inspired on a day to day basis, and not feel like I am in so much of a rut.
Is it scary to admit this stuff to myself? Yes. Is it also kind of exciting? Yes. I remember the feelings I had 10 years ago when I decided that I REALLY did not want to be a lawyer. There I was, about 100K in debt (that number has since climbed because of my MLS degree, sad, I know), and I was absolutely miserable. Didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life, other than knowing at least one career I did NOT want to do.
I am trying to be more open to “signs” now in my life. If I keep feeling like I am beating my head against a wall in certain aspects of my life, I am going to take it as a sign, to turn in another direction and try something else.
And, honestly, I want to feel like what I do on a daily basis matters.
Anyway, thanks for listening.
April 30, 2009 at 1:58 pm
She really is this nice in person,everyone!
I think this is a great goal, Terri. And when you are on your 5th book, I want a “To Chris” at the beginning.
Thanks again for everything this week. See you in a few weeks!
April 30, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I think I can handle that kind of “thanks” in my 5th book, Chris, or maybe even sooner!
Looking forward to your return trip.
April 30, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I must admit, I’m super jealous you guys got to meet. Does everyone want to fly out here and do the Ragnar Relay in Vegas? Vegas is a pretty happening vacation spot!
I think that’s awesome that you are piecing out your goals and making plans to achieve them. I have no idea what I want my life to be like in 5 years. ZERO! Well, okay, maybe some inklings of thoughts… but nothing that feels concrete. I’m conflicted on wanting to figure this out or just trying to be mindful and live in the moment for a while… I have a tendency to plot out too much.
April 30, 2009 at 9:15 pm
oh my gosh, whenever josh walks over to say hi or give me a quick kiss while i am on the computer i have to minimize the screen if i am commenting or writing a blog post! it’s like i’m embarrassed – even though he reads my blog anyway. so, i guess i know what you are saying to an extent
i enjoy reading your blog so i know i would enjoy a book. i imagine it’s intimidating to think of the big picture now, but focus on each step at a time and you’ll get there – just like running.
i’m such a theologian. (is that even the right word?) anyway, very exciting to think of where you will be down the road!
May 3, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I think you’ve got a great goal, especially if writing is your true passion. You might discover that writing and publishing a book is the easy part. Marketing to gain readership is very tough. But if it’s a good work, it’ll get noticed.
May 3, 2009 at 12:10 pm
OK, and you might find that sometimes I comment too early in the morning and don’t edit my own grammatically incorrect statements before hitting the submit button. Mercy.
May 3, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I think that’s a great goal — scary and exciting, just as it should be.
I completely understand your statement about not editing yourself. I struggle with that, too. As I’ve been writing more, though, I’ve gotten a lot better at it (although I still need to work at it a lot!). I recently read through some of my writing from when I was in high school and was writing all the time. It was eye-opening — I wrote so much, with so little self-censoring, in so many different styles. I need to get back to that!
Keep it going and keep working on being fulfilled!
May 5, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Anne, I’ve been reading a lot about the marketing that you have to do to get a book noticed. A lot has been written about the whole “self publish or not self publish” dilemna. I don’t think that’s something I could do or have the time for, but I agree, a great marketing plan is key. And don’t worry for making any grammatical mistakes – I make them all the time. So much for being an English major in college, right?!
Lindsay, I am glad to hear I am not the only person who reacts when their significant other walks over near the computer. You’re right, I just need to take it one step at a time. I think I was just very down last week, for many reasons.
Felice, I used to write a ton when I was a teenager as well, and I miss being able to write with such self-abandon. How do you write for a living?
Jill, you might find that even if you did know what you wanted your life to be like in 5 years, you could even change your mind in the meantime. What I thought I wanted for my life at this age, even 10 years ago, is much different than what I want now.
May 7, 2009 at 10:37 am
Putting your dreams out there and trying to make them come true is a really brave thing to do, things could go wrong and lead to disappointment, like you said, but I think what matters is the journey to make them come true and all that will take you there. It’s like running a marathon, what really matters is getting to the start line right? So congratulations on being brave enough to put it out there, and bests of lucks on making your dreams come truth, just keep at it and you’ll be happy with the outcome.
About the image thingy, I use photoshop to resize images. It take 2 minutes to do the changes, so if you want you can send me the images you want resized by email and I’ll send them back to you, if you don’t have photoshop. There’s also an open source software (read: FREE) that it’s like photoshop that I’m sure can also do the job, it’s called Gimp, but it might be too much to download it just to resize images.