Today I took a major step in my life, a step that explains my long absence from blogging. Mostly because I spent so much time hemming and hawing over whether or not I was making the right decision for myself and my family. Ultimately, I answered: yes, I was.
Today, I finished my last day of full-time employment at a corporation. Today, I became a full-time writer.
Today is a big day.
Of course, I've been a writer for a long time. And I've been a published writer since the day HEREAFTER was released. But before today, I hadn't yet decided to dedicate my career to writing. I hadn't taken the risk.
Writing, as we all know, is scary. It is hard, mentally exhausting, creatively challenging work. The publication process, too, is a roller-coaster of praise and punishment, as is the life of a published author. These are things I know and have experienced on a very personal level.
But to build my entire career on writing - something I love and respect and fear and crave so much? Well, that's a whole other ball of wax. It took a lot to get here.
So I'm challenging you to tell me the riskiest thing you've done for yourself - the moment you bet biggest on yourself. I'll choose the most daring, and that person will win a signed copy of HEREAFTER and a signed ARC of ARISE (when ARC's become available)!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Hm.... the riskiest thing I've done... It was probably when I decided to cut ties with my mother and have my brother and I live with my Dad. I didn't really know my Dad that well, and what I did know, was that he could be really harsh sometimes. But I also knew that my brother and I didn't need to be raised in a home where our mother left at six p.m. and didn't come back 'til the wee hours of the morning, being left to be taken care of by my fourteen year old sister. That was about seven years ago. I made the right decision, and my brother is growing into an amazing young man and I'm well on my way to graduating high school.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most daring was to go to Europe and backpack for 3.5 weeks by myself. It was after my first year teaching and I wasn't married yet & I had always wanted to go. So I booked a flight, rail pass and looked into hostels. I planned where I was going before I left but figured out the rest as I went along. It was an amazing experience that I will always treasure. I even kept a journal of my trip :)
ReplyDeleteWell, I am not sure my decision was the most daring; but, it was difficult to do. When I had my daughter 9 years ago. I stopped by career in teaching to stay home with my child. It was hard to adjust. My decision was the right one for me and my family. Since then we have added a son, three dogs, chickens and PITA father-in-law to the household.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you in your writing endeavors.
Happy Writing,
Laurielu
Bona Fide Reflections
For me it was last fall when I signed to dotted line and joined the Navy. I was excited and terrified at the same time, I shipped off to basic and half way through it, they sent me home due to a medical condition that I didn't know I had and it disqualified me from serving.
ReplyDeleteI was really upset being sent home.
As a child I wanted to be a ballerina or in the Navy. (I was a strange child yes LOL). It was scary leaving everything and everyone I knew for a world I had never been in a new world, then in a flash it disappeared.
My moment was when this scam company sent emails to several different people at my college. I was one of those people and I received a check. When I went to the bank I was worried so the teller sent me to another teller. This teller told me how it could be a scam and I was like it came through my college email. Even my best friend applied for the job and got it. I printed the emails the person sent me and went back to the bank where the manager read them and told me that it was a scam. I decided to call my college's career development center to let them know. Come to find out they have know for probably a week now and never sent out a school-wide email about this. I posted a notice on the school's facebook page and I will be speaking with the school about taking the student emails off the public site. This is the most daring thing I've done because it not only affected me, but it also affected several other people as well.
ReplyDelete- Enjoli
The riskiest thing I have ever done for myself was? Stand on a stage and sing! I have always been told that I had a nice voice but I never believed it. I tried out for my Senior High School play and got the lead! It involved singing a song that I wasn't sure I could do but I practiced and practiced and could never quite hit that last note but on opening night I had butterflies floating in my stomach and a pounding within my chest and then it happened....my song! and when I opened my mouth and a voice that I thought I never had came pouring out including that elusive last note....all in key! What a relief/thrilling/scary thing and the point is I took that risk... seized the moment and could not have been more proud of myself...and still am!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance at a great giveaway and the chance to share my story.
veltara(at)yahoo(dot)com
For me it was when I agreed to marry my hubby... I hayed him with a passion when I married him and now we have been married 12 years
ReplyDeleteThe riskiest thing I've done is decide to apply to school in Michigan. My family and I live in Texas and moving up north would be the furthest I've ever been away from them.
ReplyDeleteWe're a pretty close knit family and the thought of living so far away from them is terrifying, but it's something that I want to do. For me. For a better education and opportunity for work.
megan.qualls(at)gmail(dot)com
Yay! I am very happy for you. <3 And oh so excited to read your next books. I loved Hereafter so much :) Hmm.. I am only 18, but I have been through so much. My childhood was very bad, and to top it all I got sick. I now have three chronic diseases that I will never be rid of. I was bullied a lot in school, so I guess the riskiest thing I have done includes that. I dropped out of school when I was 16. But I stopped learning anything when I was 13.. The school didn't help me at all. My mother tried to help, but it didn't work out. And I didn't have a lot of friends, (don't have any now), and because of the bullying and the no learning thing I just decided to drop out. I now just live at home with my mother. I do not work or anything. I get new medicine at the hospital every 8 weeks. But overall, I am quite pleased with how my life is. Although I do sometimes wish I wasn't sick, that I was still in school. But I have it very good the way things are now :)
ReplyDeleteSorry for responding so much; wasn't quite sure what else to say (A)
Love, Carina ~ carina-olsen@hotmail.com
Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for your Tara!
ReplyDeleteFor a while I've known that things needed to change for me, and about a year ago, I set my goal. Though I'm single, I want to be a mom. Its what I've wanted most my whole life. Though I'm still young enough that I have time to find a husband, and I certainly hope to eventually, I don't know when that will happen. I have no desire to get married just for the sake of getting married and having babies, and I have always wanted to be a young mom, so I decided there is really no reason why I can't start my own family. It's important to me to be able to be home with my kids, and since I'm not independently wealthy, I decided to quit my job and start my own in-home childcare. It's a bit of a scary thing to do when you are on your own, with no other income to fall back on. I will have to find a house big enough to support the business, quit my job to set up shop and pray that I am able to find clientele quickly while supporting myself on zero income. So for the past year I have been squirreling away a nest egg, and plan to quit my job next summer.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile I have these very special friends in Australia. Strangely they are people I met online (not something I typically would do) but they have become some of my closest friends. I decided that before I make these huge changes in my life, I wanted to travel over and see them, because who knows when I will have another chance. It's kind of my last hurrah before I start this new chapter my life. So I bought my plane ticket, got my passport in order, and one month from now I will travel all the way across the world all by myself. Considering that up till this point the most exotic place I have been to is Victoria, BC...this is huge, and I am so excited.
wow.okay well for me it was goin to see my dad for what i tought would be the last time and we argued alot and he made me very very upset so i decieded not to talk to him and found out his ime as running out ( as in he was going to die soon) so i tryed to help him enjoy his last years i took him to a place where we skate on ice and he was weak and kep falling which was funnyy but we had the best time ever!! his doctor said he couldve died of hypothermia because he has sicklecell but im one to do reckless thing for fun we both had a good time : )
ReplyDeleteit was one to die for he has 10 yrs left to live and so far we have donen evrything he has ever dreamt of making it count
ReplyDeleteThe most riskiest thing i've ever done mentally...well recently, I flew across the country from Arizona to Boston, then after a week of kayaking/camping in the wilderness of New Hampshire, I took a train to NYC by myself, to meet my friend in Penn station. never having been to the city before, or a train, it was pretty scary. But also, in the physically risky sense, I went zip lining in the forests of Roatan, Hondurus thousands of feet up from the ground, AND I hung like an upside down starfish, while flying through the trees. Exhilarating!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Tara!!! The riskiest thing I've done? WELL, there's the time when I was 18 and I became an au pair running off from the UK to the US and never came home for 13 months. OR...there's the time I gave up EVERYTHING I had to go back to school and get a degree (I even moved halfway across the country to do it).OR the time when I was 19 and I flew from the US to Canada to meet a guy I met online LOL. I'm not sure I told my mum at the time. I guess I have done a few riskly things *blush*
ReplyDeleteLynsey(AT)narrativelyspeaking(DOT)com
Congratulations Tara, I wish you every success.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've done anything 'risky' really, Probably the thing that i do that most people say is scary is high board diving. The first time I did a dive off the 5meter platform was pretty terrifying - I screamed! I now go off it quite a lot. My mum can't watch.
I suppose I could count sending out queries for my book. That is terrifying and I'm prepared for rejection, keeping my fingers crossed.
becca9@gmail.com
Riskiest thing I did was move out of my parents home when I was 17. I moved in with my boyfriend (now husband of almost 10 years) and his Mom. I was able to finish senior year the way I wanted to without the stress that was coming from my Mom and Dad. Senior year was my favorite year of high school. I got great grades, learned a ton, held an after school job, and spent every evening my sweetheart (he graduated a year before me and was going to college/work). It was a great experience for both of us, a sort of sneak peek into what our married life would be. :)
ReplyDeleteTo my above, I also meant to add, while in New York, there was an earthquake AND a hurricane. The latter on my 17th birthday. That was hurricane...Irene I believe? They evacuated the city right after we left to a town nearby.
ReplyDeleteLeaving my job to become a SAHM - very scary, exciting and rewarding :)
ReplyDeleteMine was when I decided to quit my job and move to a different city for a new start without having a new one lined up. It worked out that I got a job better suited to what I wanted to do, but it was a scarey couple months.
ReplyDeletebacchus76 at myself dot com
I just found your blog via Brenna Yovanoff's scary cake announcement thing, and I see this awesome post! That is amazing, and terrifying and wonderful, and congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI've been pretty risky in my life. From hitchhiking across the country to moving to S Carolina without any real plan. But the riskiest, best, scariest thing I've ever done was to attend Clarion West. I had to take six weeks off work and go live in a sorority house with 17 strangers while writing a new short story every week, and learning from some excellent authors. Worth every penny, every scary moment.
I'd have to say the riskiest thing I've done is come out to my dad. I'm bisexual and dating another women. We started dating in college. My mom found out via myspace and blindsided me at lunch when she came to visit. Even knowing my mom was ok with it, for some reason it was terrifying to tell my dad. He's totally liberal and had no problem with different sexual orientations, but I was afraid it would be different since I'm his daughter. Luckily, he was totally cool and kinda sorta suspected something, but still quite scary.
ReplyDeleteI've been pretty risky all my life. But What I find risky everyday is putting myself out into the world you never know what people are going to say about you or think usually people ignore me like I don't exist I have no friends unless you count books and teachers. Another thing I find risky for me is my book reviews when reviewing books I feel like I am letting everyone get to me and put me down if I do or say something wrong. I've learned that it's okay to put yourself out there because the more you do the more you learn and meet new people.
ReplyDeletejazzwolf44(at)gmail(dot)com
To me, the riskiest thing I have done was give up the idea of marriage for the man I love and the man who became a father to my son. We may never get married and as long as he is in mine and my son's life, there is nothing too risky for love and happiness.
ReplyDeleteOne of the riskiest things that I have ever done is stand up to my dad and move in with my mom. I was tired of moving around and going to schools that I hate and coming home to strained relationships. It's still a work in progress but I'm pretty proud of my self for getting this far in the process.
ReplyDeleteAnother risky thing was to be a nerd and actually try to win the science fair. I worked really hard on my question "How does the organic nature of an orange effect it's DNA level?" I think I did good but the science fair isn't for a while still so I guess we'll see.
One more risky thing that I did was take all AP classes. They are tough and I'm not the smartest person on the planet. I'm glad I did though because even though it has been challenging they will look great on my transcript and they are good for me.