Saturday, June 17, 2017

I jumped out of my comfort zone and it was AWESOME

Ok, so I'm....*cough* fifty-one now. There. I said it. OVER 50.

                                                            (picture from Google Images)

Some days, this is what I feel like I look like.

That sounds so OLD to me. Like ancient. I should be wrapped up in Quilted Northern bathroom tissue and thrown into a sarcophagus.



                                                      (picture from Google Images)



But, I'm still alive and kicking, so I need to make the most out of the time I have on this earth. I could kick over tomorrow and then they really would have to put me somewhere...preferably an urn. I'm not a big fan of the southern tradition of looking at somebody lying in a coffin all made up.

So, I did something today. Something totally terrifying. I was more afraid of this than going into a haunted house with my daughter and husband. She wanted to go, so I made her go first. She has autism, so I thought she was going to lose her mind, but she giggled the whole time.

Sorry, I squirrled. ANYWAY.

So, I went to the Music City Romance Writer's meeting. That's one of two chapters of RWA (Romance Writers of America) in my state. Those people are writers. Legit writers.

Most people wouldn't think going to a meeting would be a big deal, but it was to me.
If I'd walked into a clan of music teachers, I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but these are writers. I guess I still feel like I'm not really a writer. I'm just trying to be one.

They were all so nice. I can't tell you how at ease they made me feel, as soon as I walked in the door. They were introducing themselves and showing me where to sit. Their welcome was warm and inviting.
Not only was the meeting informative, several people read snipits of some of their work and the group critiqued it. It was so good. Great insights and nice people.

I don't know what I was expecting when I walked in there. Maybe a firing squad.
Maybe for them to have an x-ray wand that when they held it over me, like they do at airports, they would see through me.
                                           (picture from Google Images)


They would see all my insecurities stacked up on all my internal shelves, like my to-be-read stack of books. They would see that I'm not a legit writer, but trying to play the part of one.

Nope.

They saw a person coming in, wanting to learn as much as possible about how to get a book published and were willing to help any way they could. Because, they've all been there.

I'll definitely go back next month.
So excited. :)