Although I’m not quite certain, I don’t believe I have ever submitted my writing to a contest. I know they existed when I was in high school but I was far too shy to even consider it then. Now though I’ll be submitting the poem from my last post along with two more, and a short story, to a couple of contests for undergraduates at UW. No idea what my chances of winning one of them might be of course. Just from the quality of work in my creative writing class there are undoubtedly much better writers at the school. Plus these things are all so subjective that anyone’s work is fair game. I’m just excited to be participating for once.

I’m nervous too but not as much as I thought I would be. I know when I started writing my first book it was really hard to let anyone read what I’d written. I wanted to protect my writing like it was some kind of secret treasure. Silly but true. I was also envious of the other writers whose blogs I followed. They wrote so easily and were very open about discussing it, sharing it. They were unconcerned with reviews, positive or negative. Then my first book was published, just electronically, and it wasn’t an overnight success. No magic book lottery picked my story out and made it super popular. I was disappointed of course, but it was a good thing really. It made me face the reality that switching to a writing career was going to take a lot of time and effort. So I had to ask myself what I really wanted.

In the end I took the plunge. I gave up a very lucrative career that made me miserable and now I’m back at school full-time as a poor student. And loving it. I have before me possibilities that I couldn’t have dreamed of back when I was working my butt off for a job I hated. I’m still enjoying writing, enjoying school despite the sometimes annoying work that comes with it, and most of all enjoying the exploration of my life in a way I never anticipated. I never expected to get a chance to start my life over in this manner. Especially not so far into my life. But that just means I’m going to push myself to make the most of this chance. Not everyone gets a first one, let alone a second.