Take a deep breath, close your eyes and.... jump!

[owned_by_a_cat]

Essentially England, my English history and food website, is five years old today, so please forgive me if I'm feeling a little introspective.  I still recall sitting at my desk during lunchbreak, staring at the screen that said "Click SUBMIT to register your domain."  And I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and clicked. 

Nothing awful happened. Not then, not later when I started to comprehend the mammoth project I had so blithely committed to.  For the last five years, the England site has been a sideline to two engineering jobs, a p/t teaching job, a house move and the start of a new business.  It's the size of very two long novels, attracts half a million visitors a year and pays a large chunk of our mortgage.

More importantly, though, it's given me confidence as a writer. I've actually written more fiction in the last 5 years than I did in the 10 years before that. And I've even (shock horror!) shown it to other people!  And writing for a large part of my living - and dealing with the resulting comments, complaints, suggestions etc. - has given me resilience and a slightly (ever so slightly!) less perfectionist attitude.

So I thought that today is a good day to take another deep breath, close my eyes again and take another jump.
I don't do New Year's Resolutions - I mean, why wait? - but a friend told me that if you want to stop smoking or lose weight you should tell all your friends so they can sabotage your efforts keep you on target. It's supposed to work, so I thought I might give it a try.

**Deep breath, close eyes ...**

In 2013, I will locate some courage, ignore the part of my brain that upbraids me for arrogance in thinking anything I write could possibly be good enough, and submit at least two short stories to a publisher. 
(And hopefully you won't have to contact me in 364 days to ask if I've done it....)

There. Nothing awful's happened. Yet.

Comments

[ichibanseiken.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on Essentially England! And, your goal for next year is awesome. If you're not careful, you'll find yourself with yet another job :-) I know I did!

[tylashke.livejournal.com]

All the best with the writing. You'll definitely have people who'll be willing to read through your stuff, support you if you're not confident enough and give you ideas on how to improve it. =)

[sardonicista.livejournal.com]

First off, congratulations on taking the leap. The success is a happy by-product, but in my way of thinking, the only things we're really in control of is our attitude and effort, and taking that first step is a huge deal.

Second, I am excited to hear that you'll be working towards submitting a few stories for publication. Your writing is wonderful in all of the venues I've seen it in thusfar, and sharing your work for profit is even better. =)

We'll stick to sabotaging each other's diets, eh?

[nochick-fics.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. Sounds like you've come a long way!

Here's to going even further next year!

[kahewai.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Good luck with you new goal! I bet that you'll do great! :D

[writerx75.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your website being so successful, and congratulations on your writing resolution! I look forward to reading what you come up with.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well that's nothing if not an inspiring story, you know, and how brilliant that you're able to write for at least part of your living (so far... *g*)

Here's to another five years of doing things that are brilliantly successful - and enjoyable, by the sounds of it! (I've only had a wee wander around Essential England so far, but it looks like a great website.)