Instead of Cowboy Boots....

It's funny how things are meant to be...or so it seems.

About 18 months ago I was working hard on THIS BLOG while waiting for my daughter at choir rehearsal. A fellow mom (whom I did not know well at the time but has since become like a sister to me) asked if I wrote. I answered honestly, as I am prone to do even when it is inappropriate. In this case, it was a good thing. I said I was supposed to write but doubted myself.

[In a seemingly unrelated sidenote, I decide about that time that what I really want for my 40th birthday is a pair of cowboy boots, so I resolve to ask for money for said boots. I imagine looking all sexy in a dress and boots.]

A few months later the choir mom told me about an Artist's Way group she had just begun. I said it sounded great and that I should find one. She said "No, join ours." I took a risk and did that. It changed me for the better and I found my inner power in a new way. (Sounds dramatic but it is shockingly accurate.)

Then, sister-in-law (a Jennifer) tells me about NaNoWriMo last spring (or round about then) after I tell her how much I am getting out of my Artist's Way group and the NaNo seed is planted. It sounds crazy but I can't let go of the idea.

Artist's Way group ends. A dear friend, yet another Jennifer, tells me about a book that she thought would really speak to me. Stephen King's On Writing, in which he tells the story about how he became a writer and offers advice about finding your true voice. I read it right before jumping into the NaNo adventure. I love the book but don't really GET IT until I've been writing every day for two weeks.

November 1, 2011 - I am finally more confident and sure of myself than ever before. I am ready to "do this thing" as they say. And...I do it.

Today, I bought Danielle LaPorte's Big Beautiful Book Plan. Danielle is a blogger I follow only because another dear work friend (one of the few non-Jennifers in this timeline) encouraged me to read her work for inspiration. The BBBP just came out today, right after I finished NaNoWriMo, right when I feel certain there is another (bigger, better) path for me, and right when I became ready to work for what I want in life.

Take it all the way back...if I hadn't been working so hard on this blog (I concentrate very hard on most of my posts), if friends had not reached out to me to tell me about books/groups/blogs/crazy-efforts-to-write-50,000-words-in-30-days then none of this would have happened and I would be buying cowboy boots with my birthday money.

Which would, admittedly, be quite stylish and cute....but not nearly as satisfying as completing my very own book.

The cowboy boots will come and I'll probably be wearing them at a book signing in your hometown in the near future. (I can write like a confident diva in my blog because only about five people read it. Plus, you remember that issue I have about being completely honest even when it's not appropriate? Yeah. That issue ain't ending in the near future.) In the meantime, I'll be doing exactly what another sister of my heart recently advised:

"Get over yourself and go out there and save the world. Or write the Great American Novel. Or whatever. I believe in you."

I believe in me too.