Creating the Experience

All my life I have been a creator. I didn't realize that as a little girl I was creating just as I was pretend playing. I created a brother (John) and a sister (Sally), I created a complete set of accounting books from an old financial journal my dad gave me. I created an alter ego: Roxie, the Roller Derby Team Captain. Later I created pots and plaques in high school ceramics class. I created an ash tray from clay. I created a monthly column "Westy Wheels" for my high school newspaper about the students' cars. I'm still creating, now more than ever with Erica. But what I'm missing is the creating of written work.

I stumbled on a blog, Motherlogue. Liz Sheffield writes about being in a career counselors office, paying $80 an hour - I did the same thing, trying to find out "what color was my parachute". In her post, she says "I wasn't creating any writing experiences", which is just where I am right now. Sure, I want to be a writer, but I don't go far beyond that. I've taken a more casual approach to writing in 2010, but maybe it's been TOO casual. For not giving myself guilt over not writing, I've given myself a free pass, and have had it punched way too many times. I'm getting back on track. Starting now. Really.

If hearing about a high school student who is already writing a book isn't enough to get me going, what is???