Good Things Happen to Those Who Make it Happen

I'm holed up in the kids playroom, my feet resting against a tub of Thomas trains and my laptop balanced somewhat precariously on a pile of sticker and colouring-in books.  My companions today, apart from the two men building my new staircase and filling my house with a fine layer of undustable dust, are Little People, Shaun the Sheep and various obnoxious battery operated toys.

But I don't care.  I am at work as I now like to call it, and if my office has a floor rug with The Little Mermaid on it and the couch has three years worth of biscuit and milk stains, so be it.

Two great things happened to me this week on my journey to be a writer.  The first was that I had my session with the writing coach Elizabeth Bezant.  Not only was there free coffee and cake to be had, but it was a reassuring and inspiring opportunity to talk shop with a professional.  One pearl of wisdom she shared with me was:

          "Most people write when they are inspired, but professional writers write until they are inspired."

This really brought it home to me.  I can't sit around waiting for the Great Australian Novel to come tumbling out of my fingertips and magically enter itself onto the keyboard.  I can't dither around trying to come up with brilliant ideas for articles to submit.  I can't delete half-finished posts that just aren't working.  If I want to be a writer, I need to write. 

This will be a real challenge for me, as I am one of those people who like to be prepared.  I research.  I plan.  I write lists.  I fill my time doing endless things to prepare myself and then not actually do anything.  But what I haven't actually done looks really impressive.

The second very exciting thing that has happened this week is I have arranged work experience on a local magazine, a beautiful glossy magazine that focuses on my favourite subject: kids and parenting.  I start on Monday!  I will be the world's oldest work experience kid (which is really only fair since I will also be the sad looking mature aged student in the corner when uni starts next month).

This week I feel I have made great progress on my quest.  But perhaps the thing I am most proud of is the fact that I took an active role in my own life.  I didn't wait for the opportunities to fall into my lap, I went out and made them happen.