Oh who am I kidding, I have not overcome my addiction to achieving great things. However, I am able to enjoy the process as I work towards new goals.
The real, hard truth about what I want to achieve, is that it is going to take years. It's going to take 10 more months of posting 5 days a week on this blog.
Plus, another 5 articles a week on Medium.com-a site I'm writing on- for another year in order to make enough money to pay for half of my monthly expenses.
Assuming I keep my lifestyle the same.
It's going to take 4 more years of developing my writing skills before my name is one that is considered when putting together a panel of writers and speakers for writer's conventions, women's conventions and other forums I don't know exist yet.
That's if I write consistently for 4 years straight and have readers who like my work.
My goal is to be established financially and professionally as a writer, by the age of 40. Which is in just over 4 years time.
That is a lot of words.
I'm naturally chatty so instead of talking, I write out all the things I wish to say. It's all a big experiment, really. Life is a big experiment. It's just that sometimes you experiment with things that lead to long term consequences and responsibilities.
Wink wink.
I'm going to insert a pet peeve of mine-talking about all the plans you have without any follow through.
Or in other words...
"One day, I'm going to do this.. and this.. and this.. and go here and here and here and here and..."
I write down all of my ideas and plans in my journals. Then I read them back to myself and some of them feel right. Some of them don't feel right, right now, but perhaps in the future. But I don't say them aloud to anyone.
It's more fun and productive, in my opinion, just to go do something and tell the world about it as you're doing it or after you've done it.
Telling people, even your friends, your plans and dreams come with some accountability. If you don't follow through, after a while it's like crying wolf.
People will nod and smile and think " Oh ya, well good for you. You probably won't do it but good for you."
Can I tell you something?
Writing is the easy part. It's the business around it that is a bit overwhelming. There is so much advice, so many things to learn when it comes to the world wide web and if you want to get serious, networking and contributing to your network as you build it.
I'm constantly reading other people's writing, studying their business model, reading advice both good and bad.
I have to take everything I learn and figure out which advice sits well with me and which advice I can trash.
It's not about how many people "Follow" me, its how many are actively reading, engaging and sharing their experiences with me or sharing my work.
Anyone can start a blog. Most people don't follow through with it for very long. I saw this when I was a music teacher. I would only accept 2 adult students a year because most of the time, life's demands overcame their desire to learn how to play the violin.
I worked for years to build my teaching practice. I studied music for decades. It was hard, but I enjoyed it. And then I stopped enjoying it. I had a schedule that was awesome but I didn't know how to create a home for myself and space for myself to pursue other interests. I didn't even know I had other interests.
I find myself in a position where I can spend my time building a body of written work that will hopefully find a loyal audience.
If in 4 years I'm completely out of money and am working at another 50-hour-a-week job because the writing thing didn't work out, so be it. I will continue to write until such time.
Or maybe this time next year, I'm standing on stage, giving a motivational talk about how not having children was the best idea I ever had.
Ha!
Have a lovely day.
Sincerely,
LeNora Faye
Bitchy Bookkeeper
Almost an Author
Former Fantastic Violinist
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