On Making The Decision To Write

I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. Journals, poems, little snippets of stories here and there. College, then my masters. In college I thought I’d major in creative writing, until I really got into the writing and I realized being workshopped, reading aloud, those things did not fit well with my introverted personality. I switched to English Lit and added a double in Film Studies because I was bored and I needed more stories. I have always loved a good story.

When I graduated I knew I wanted to write. I submitted an application to write descriptions for an online toy company, one of the first, and that was the first time I started writing content. Content, whatever that is. It’s just stuff really, without the strategy. But I’ll save that for another time. I went to get my M.A. in Communication because it was writing, but maybe with a job attached? Or that’s what I thought anyway. Over the years I’ve been a blogger, a marketer, a PR gal, written content, strategy, branding, all of it. And I continue to do that work and I love it. But what’s been eating at me, all these years, is the nagging feeling that I have a story to tell. I want to write fiction. I want to create something new and let it out into the world.

When, really, is there ever the right time to write a book? Or to make the switch, from your day job, or your job as a parent, to say “I’m going to do this.”

For me, now is that time. It feels indulgent, to write a book. To focus on art. It isn’t paid. And I could fail spectacularly at it. In fact, I probably will.

Slowly, I’ve been telling people I know I’m writing a book. And every time I say it I get a little thrill, but I also get a little terrified. I say “ask me about it again in six years.” Or I say “it’s about modern American life,” which is vague enough to sort of stop people from asking any further.

But I’m putting it out there in the universe now. Let it be known, friends, that I am writing a book. Ask me about it. Ask me about the classes I’ve been taking down at Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop. Ask me how my writing is going, and where I’ve been doing it, and how I’m feeling about it. It’s possible I’ll tell you I’m struggling, or it’s going well, or I’ll change the subject entirely. But the decision has been made.

And now I get to work.