Writing: You're the One For Me

I was never a kid who grew up wanting to be a bunch of different things. I never dreamed about being a famous actress or a rock star, probably due to my insane stage fright. (Although the money wouldn't be so bad...) I didn't consider being a doctor, lawyer, politician or businesswoman. All I've ever wanted to be is a writer.

In fact, a friend in high school remarked, "You're the only person I know who has had the same dream." And that dream was to publish one "beach book" a year and actually live, um, ON the beach. I might be on the road to achieving the first part of that dream, but Chicago's lakeshore hardly qualifies as a beach.

But, I digress. I remember thinking as college neared to an end that I better write and sell a book so I wouldn't have to get a real job. But, sadly, I never even attempted that book because I didn't think I had anything to say. So, after graduation, I sucked it up and got a "real world job"--all with the idea that I would simply work in the corporate grind for a few years before I got my sure-to-be-fabulously-lucrative author career on track. Of course, when I finally did get published, fate laughed heartily as it told me all about advances, payment installments and reserves against returns.

So maybe it's a bit tougher to have a writing career of the "fabulously lucrative" variety, but that doesn't mean I'm going to ever stop trying. See, I have a wonderful opportunity right now in that I'm going to be writing full-time until next summer. And after only two months in, I'm HOOKED. You can bet that I'll be doing everything I can to continue this sweet setup for perpetuity.
Maybe I should just follow my sister's advice: "Why don't you just write the next Harry Potter?"