And it came to me like an epiphany

I had an epiphany yesterday while at work.

Before I go into that let me first give you a little background on my career path up until now. I have held quite an interesting bundle of jobs. I have been a kiosk coffee pourer, a card swiper at a gym, a shoe store supervisor (yes, I was Al Bundy), a retail manager, a bank supervisor and now I spend my nights working as a biller at a transportation company.

A few months ago my company came to me and said that they would be taking my job away and sending it to a centralized location. According to them I had two options; I could either be laid off or I could follow my job to Dayton, OH. What?? Not the best two options that I've ever heard but in an attempt to be open to new opportunities and have guaranteed work my family and I packed up our SUV and drove over 2,000 miles from sunny southern California to cold, dreary Ohio.

We've been here for two months and I do the same thing every night... type. I sit in front of two computer screens and enter the billing information for accounts that give us freight to deliver. I have to admit that it isn't the most invigorating career but I learned to accept it as a means to help support my family. And even though I don't exactly LOVE my job, I sit quietly in my cubicle and complete my job with as much perfection as I can.

Which leads me to the events of last night. My supervisor, lets call her Fawn, came up behind me and asked me to follow her to a room where my union representative was waiting. Anyone who's ever had a job knows that this is probably not going to end well for me. After missing a few days of work due to a broken car (poor Betsie didn't like driving that far only to freeze outside at night) I was informed that there was some 'concern' over my absences. With my job in California my sick time refreshed on the first of the year but here it's not until June. That's right, 6 months without any time off and I had accumulated two unexcused absences in less than 2 months. I was also made aware of the fact that our manager in the corporate offices had been attempting to get me fired under a 90 day probationary rule which turns out does not pertain to me. Fortunately for me (frown) Fawn was so on my side that she convinced our manager to let me off with a verbal warning... (more frowning)

Time for the epiphany!!! I just uprooted my entire family and followed a job 3/4 of the way across the nation and they can fire me just...like...that! What am I doing? I talk all of the time about writing a book but I don't make time to write. I dream all of the time about being happy and successful doing something that I love yet I keep making these jobs more important. This is officially the beginning of making things in my life happen instead of letting things in life happen to me!

I've learned from listening to people who've achieved success that you have to identify your goals, write them down and make them known so here goes: I want to write a book that inspires people to ask questions of themselves, I want to self publish that book and offer it on my website and I want to gain a following of loyal readers who I can inspire and who inspire me. Thank you for reading and I appreciate your feedback. I look forward to you helping me stay true to my goals and keeping me honest in my journey.

"You will never find time for anything, you must make it" Charles Buxton

My Failures

Through one of the people that I am following on Twitter, Sid Savara, I found Motivational Quotes that he has compiled into THE LITTLE BOOK OF BIG MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES. In it I found 14 pages of amazing quotes by people who have achieved some form of success in their lives. I found one that inspired me to write about it and it is: "I would rather attempt something great and fail than to do nothing and succeed" Bob Bales. That is exactly what I'm talking about! I have read story after story about people who failed time and time again but continued on the path towards their success story. And you know what the difference between a successful person and the rest of the world is? The successful person never quit!! They didn't let what seemed like a failure dictate their future. Instead, they used the 'failure' as a stepping stone, learning tool and motivation to get to where they wanted to be. Where would basketball be if Michael Jordan had quit after being cut from his high school basketball team? The amount of athletes that he has inspired and made better because of his success is infinite. When you quit on your dreams after hitting some adversity, you are depriving the world of your own personal brand of genius! We all have it inside of us and our jobs are to identify it, embrace it and run full speed towards it! I've finally identified mine... I'm supposed to tell stories and inspire imagination! I've embraced my personal genius and I can't get it out fast enough!! So I say proudly that I have failed and I am appreciative of what I took away from those experiences. And through this blog you can witness my journey first hand!

Please stay with me throughout this journey and watch my successes and failures towards my goal of becoming a published author. Thank you!!!

"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed" Theodore Roosevelt

There Are No Rules - What Can You Accomplish in 30 Days? (Free Worksheets!)

I just read an article by Jane Friedman at Writer's Digest that I'm super excited about! She's promoting "Book in a Month" by Victoria Schmidt Ph.D which, in her words, helps you set realistic goals and monitor your progress, select a story topic that will continue to inspire you throughout the writing process, quickly outline your entire story so that you have a clear idea of how your plot and characters are going to develop before you start writing, draft each act of your story by focusing on specific turning points, keep track of the areas you want to revise without losing your momentum in the middle of your story and relax and have fun—you are, after all, doing something you love. There are also worksheets to help you on this path and Jane has those on her article for free!

I will update you on my progress and let you know what I think of this book.

"You shouldn't focus on why you can't do something, which is what most people do. You should focus on why, perhaps, you can and be one of the exceptions." Steve Case, CEO of America Online




There Are No Rules - What Can You Accomplish in 30 Days? (Free Worksheets!)

Everyone has Passion, Not Everyone Pursues It

I've loved to write for as long as I can remember. I entertain a wild and uninhibited imagination while keeping my real life extremely reserved. Creating stories has always been an outlet for releasing some of the things that swirl around my head without actually having to step out 'for real'. I have spent the last few weeks contemplating stepping out and, with much encouragement from my husband, I've decided to step outside of my comfort zone and move towards finishing the two stories that I have been playing with. This blog is to document and share my journey towards getting my work published. I appreciate you coming along, I'm going to need people to celebrate with when I attain my goal!

I stayed up until about 3 am this morning researching the NY Times Bestseller List and the authors that hold the honor of a spot on it. Stephanie Meyer is the author of the Twighlight Sagas. She was a stay-at-home mom of 3 who had fallen into the monotony of motherhood. She woke up from a dream one night and was unable to go back to sleep. She had come up with the characters that would soon become the stars of her stories. Three months later (YES just 3 months!) she was finished with her 1st book! She would take care of her kids and her household during the day and stay up late at night writing. Five months later she was a published author and the rest is history.

J.K. Rawlings is the author of the seven Harry Potter books. She was a single mother on welfare and after a 4 hour delay on a train, she came up with the characters that would soon become the stars of her multi-million dollar stories. It took her five years to finish her first book but soon after that, she became the world's best selling author...EVER!

These women are just two examples of people who had no formal training as writers but had the passion to step out with a story that they believed in. Why can't we all do that?

Well... I believe that we can! I believe that everyone has a passion inside of them and the difference between truly successful people and those that are just living is whether we are following what our soul is telling us to do. How many people are floating through life surpressing what makes them who they are? Telling themselves that the desire that's burning inside of them is silly, unattainable and not worth entertaining? I understand all about that because, until about 2 weeks ago, I was one of them. I believed that a nine-to-five that wasn't paying me what I was worth was better and more 'secure' than stepping out and spending my life following my own personal passion. The truth is, my job is holding me back from my passion because when I'm there, I'm not making progress.

So, to put it plainly, I've decided to change my life. The first place I started was with my thinking. I had to believe this stuff that I'm saying and the best way for me was to read the stories of people who started out where I am now and have ended up where I want to go. After your thinking changes, you can take the steps needed to actually see things manifest. I'm so excited and proud of myself for 'getting the lead out' and finally moving forward! And I thank you for coming along for the ride :)

I'm going to make it a habit to leave you with tidbits of wisdom that I've picked up during my journey and here is my first and favorite: TO BE CONTENT WITH LESS IS SINFUL- Jack Canfield

Let's change the world!!!