Monday, March 7, 2011

Following Your Dream

Hello Friends... guess what? Tomorrow is the first day of a writing class that I signed up for back in January! I told you guys a while back that I wanted to write a book, right? Well, I started writing, and am well into the fourth chapter of my book! I know that isn't very far from when I started, but I feel like my story is going well and I am still feeling inspired to write it... which is awesome!


As I progress in class, I'll let you know what I think of it and how it goes. This is me following my dream! Okay, it's a newer dream... I think the first time I realized that I wanted to write books for kids was when I was still living in Fremont, California. I have some story lines written down from around 2008. I didn't do much with them because at the time I was also a project manager for a construction company, and working around 60 hours a week. I would come home nearly brain-dead, and sit in front of the TV, or lay on the sofa and read a book. I didn't have enough creative energy left to write, and barely enough to work on such an engrossing project. I was happy to sometimes make a handmade book, or paint a watercolor. 


So, now... I don't have a stressful job. Heck, I don't have ANY job!! And though I will need to get one this year, for now, I will use my time to do the creative things that I have always wanted to do! Like write my first novel! 




This class will hopefully help give me some direction and advice. The instructor is a published author, who wants to help new writers by telling us what we need to know about the process of writing and getting published. I'm super excited! (I'm still also taking the Blogging Your Way E-Course, and I LOVE IT. If you are a blogger, and feel like your blog might be floundering, or that you don't really know what you're doing, then I suggest signing up for this course the next time it's available! You will be given so much valuable information, and you'll be energized about blogging again!) 


I was not a very good college student.... I'm the first to admit it. I was in college for over seven years, and left without a degree. I changed my major three times, I took classes that I enjoyed and didn't spend a lot of time on the course work for classes I wasn't interested in. I hated homework!... when it was from a class that I disliked, anyway! But taking classes that are pertinent to ME, that's another story. I LOVE learning! Are you like me? I used to be a good student in high school, but for me, it wasn't that difficult. I was taking college prep classes, too, and had a good time. But college was another matter entirely, and it could be because I had moved out on my own and had rent to worry about, as well as my ever-increasing credit card debt that I was getting into. School became a secondary concern to getting creditors off my back and buying groceries! (I had two jobs most of the time I was going to school.) Maybe also, it was because I didn't know enough about myself yet. Declaring a major was premature, and changing it set me back and cost more money.


Image Source
 (Please check out the blogs linked to the images I have chosen. I felt like they were more than coincidence! The first one is a free image that I found, but the last two are from blogs.)


Do I regret the choices that I made back then? I honestly don't think so. There was a time when I would have said, "Absolutely. Yes, I should have stayed in school and gotten a degree. Any degree." But for me to say that now wouldn't be honest. Because I would not be true to myself. I know this is probably like heresy to say, but college (as it was when I was there) just wasn't for me and wasn't helping me to grow or learn about anything pertinent to me. My belief is that we all have different paths to take, and that's what makes us all unique. There is no "right or wrong" as to what you do in life. It's all just one choice or another. Who can say what is right? Why do they have the power to say it? I know lots of successful (as defined by society) people who didn't go to college, or maybe went for a year and then left. I know people who went to college, got one or two degrees, and are working in fields widely different from what their degrees were in, and aren't happy. So... who's to say? Only you. Only me. We are the only ones who can say what is right for us in our lives, and I would hope that you stay true to yourself, and don't let anyone tell you that you're wrong. Don't allow people's judgement to follow you around like a yapping little dog. Be true to yourself! Do what you do, and make no apologies for it! (As long as you aren't hurting anyone, or yourself, of course!) I think you will be a LOT happier for it! I know that I am.
  
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5 comments:

LenoreNeverM♡re said...

Wow...7 years?!
Anyhow, all the best in your book, Shari!
I agree, stay true always*

shari said...

Actually, that was 7 years at State, then I completed a private Interior Design School program and also an Architectural CAD program. So, that's 9-1/2 years. Ha ha. But the two concentrations were a joy, as they were directly related to what I was going for at the time.... I'm crazy, I know!

Orion Designs said...

Awesome post Shari. That writing class sounds so exciting. I'm sure it will open new doors for you.

The honesty in your last paragraph is impressive. Kudos to you for landing in this place at this time in your life.

shari said...

Thanks, Vicki! It's taken me a long time to get *here*, that's for sure!

Terriaw said...

Good for you for pursuing your dreams! You sounds so energized and excited to be on this path. How does anyone ever know what they want to be when they grow up, even when they are grown up!

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