There are only two times in my entire life that I have truly made a deeply thoughtful decision about how I want to live. Up until then, I sort of plucked choices out of the air. For instance:
I went to college far away from home (Chicago) because I had never been far away from home before.
I took the first job that came my way after college – working a switchboard at a big company – because it was offered to me.
That job slid me into an assistant position in a marketing firm when another person quit to get married.
A snowstorm drove me out of Chicago and back to California where I grew up. That really was more of a reaction than a decision. Have you ever lived through an Illinois winter?
Back home I got married (okay, that was a great decision).
I got my MBA because the company I worked for paid for it.
One day someone dared me to write a novel – something I had never imagined doing – and I did it because they dared me.
That was when I started making real life choices. I had found something I was passionate about (other than my husband). The challenge of writing, the flights of imagination, the nail biting wait to see if an editor would even look at my book created a thrill that I had never experienced before. After my first book was published, I chose to become a writer, an author, a novelist. I decided that I would be the best storyteller I could be and for over 30 years I have pursued that goal. I have had my ups – including best seller lists – and my rejection/bad review downs.
When A Slice of Orange asked me to pen a blog, I thought this would be the perfect place to talk about everything I have learned, about the everyday decision-making that comes with this career. I want to tell you what it’s really like to make a living as a novelist, how other people have done it and why there is no one-size-fits all when it comes to a writing career.
This will be a blog about permissions, and fun stuff, and objectives and questions and hard looks about the decisions authors make every day. This will be a blog about choosing how to proceed on your own terms.
The beauty of the Write Life is that it’s all about choice – yours, mine and ours.
Rebecca
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Rebecca Forster is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author and writes full-time, penning thrillers that explore the emotional impact of the justice system.
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Rebecca Forster is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author and writes full-time, penning thrillers that explore the emotional impact of the justice system.
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Rebecca Foster There are only two times in my entire life that I have truly made a deeply thoughtful decision about how I want to live. Up until then, I sort of plucked choices out of the air. For instance: I went to college far away from home (Chicago) because I had never been far […]
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Rebecca Forster is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author and writes full-time, penning thrillers that explore the emotional impact of the justice system.
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Rebecca Forster is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author and writes full-time, penning thrillers that explore the emotional impact of the justice system.
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Was that by chance the Chicago winter of 78-79, Rebecca? I was there then and I took myself off to California a couple of years later! Great post, and I’m looking forward to reading more!
I remember that winter! We lived in Northern Michigan and there are pictures of me standing in front of snow banks TWICE as tall as me!! We built soooo many great snow forts that year!!
LOL, I was just trying to figure out how to dig out my car!
Love the post!