Wishful Thinking # 1 for 2014 -

I wanted to be a teacher since I was eleven years old.  With that goal in mind I prepared and I studied hard. My family and the girls around me made fun that I preferred books to boys, but I had set my sights on a college education and a teaching degree, two things that no one in my family had ever before achieved.

I forced my brother and sister to play school with me.  I even coerced the neighborhood kids to pretend along. I knew what I wanted out of life and I was rehearsing how it would fit.

I started looking into colleges when I was in the eighth grade and applied to three or four by the end of my junior year. I got accepted by all of them, but only two offered me a substantial scholarship, so I accepted the one that paid more and I finished college in three and a half years. 

   

I was an educator for thirty-seven years, twenty-five in the classroom and twelve in an administrative position.  In total, I had spent forty-four years of my life pursuing one goal and I did well.

Now I am in pursuit of another goal.

I want to be an author, a published one. I don’t want to be mediocre.  I don’t want to be forgettable.  I want what I write to make a difference and have an impact on the reader.

My family and my friends wonder why I don’t sit back and enjoy my retirement. I understand their consternation.  Writing well and being a successful published author are difficult goals to achieve.  

I study the market, agents, and acquisition editors.  I force family and friends to read my scribbles and encourage them to give me advice.  I coerce any and all to take a peek at my writing and give me feedback.  I am rehearsing the writing life to see how it fits and how it feels.

Wishful Thinking # 1 for 2014 – I will submit a finished manuscript to an editor or an agent by December 2014.