Tuesday, July 2, 2013

New beginnings


My Independence Day is coming two days early—as of today, I will be a writer without a day job.

The last sixty days have been painful: shutting down the companies I work for, laying off friends, and trying to keep my sanity. I hope that everyone can land on their feet, and find a new job that will be more fulfilling, more promising, and more secure.

As for myself, I haven’t had much time to think about my future, until now. I feel a wonderful sense of freedom, and am not sure that I want to go back to lawyering any time soon. I’m looking forward to fall semester and getting to know new students, and reconnecting with prior students in my upper level classes.

In the meantime, my husband gave me a “honey-do” list (clean out the berry patches, put wells around the thousand-plus trees, and dig out weeds in the pasture), and I have a pile of books to read and a few unfinished manuscripts that are crying for attention. I’m looking forward to spending more time at my keyboard in a creative way instead of a work way.

I hope to find the fountain of prolific writing, that magical place where I write with wild abandon, and the words, sentences, paragraphs, and scenes easily flow out of me. I hope to power through the tough days when the fountain is dry, and keep writing whatever terrible words, sentences, paragraphs, and scenes find their way onto the screen. I hope to produce something every day, instead of a little here and there every few days.

I have the good fortune to be able to see what’s behind new doors, take on different adventures, and discover what I’m really made of. This is a chance for me to see how strong I am and how patient I can be. It’s an opportunity to reinvent my life.

Where this journey will take me is unknown. But I am ready to walk down a different path and see where it goes. If it dead ends, I’ll find a new trail to blaze. If a compelling attorney position or full-time teaching position comes along, I’ll weigh the pros and cons with my husband. I will do what makes sense.

I’m incredibly blessed to have this option, so I don’t want to waste the opportunity. It’s exciting, and a little scary, but it’s “life”. Onward I go!

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