Thursday, February 26, 2009
Do I have what it takes to start a business?
This is one SCARY subject. Being an entrepreneur is a totally different mindset than being an employee. When, after you get hired, you do what someone else asks you to do and in exchange, you get income and benefits.
Starting your own business means (1) you have an idea or a product that others will pay money to get, (2) the buck starts and stops with you, and (3) you have to move from a relatively passive role in terms of business success or failure, to a totally active one.
So The First Question Is: What Do I Want To Do?
Another hard question. But I'm a Pollyanna. So I view my recent and unexpectedly early retirement as something that can open doors that I didn't even know were there. To SEE them though, I need to wipe my mental filters clear.
What Did I Like To Do As A Child And Youth?
Write. And Read. And do projects. And figure out what was REALLY going on, particularly how and what other people were thinking, and why.
I started writing stories soon after I learned my A B C's.
I also recall being really excited when our teachers assigned us big, long projects. I'd rush home and start planning it. Doing research. Writing outlines. Putting notes on index cards. Yeah, yeah. Call me nerd. Or dork.
I Wasn't Sure What I Wanted To Be in College:
My early majors in college switched rapidly between English, Journalism, Computers, Nursing and Home Ec. (Go figure). When I finally got my BA, it was in Marketing. I was 38 and a single mom of three young children. It was time to get real. Get a well-paying job with security and regular hours and good benefits. That's what I wanted then.
What Do I Want Now?
I find myself, three months after retirement, slowly returning to my childhood and youthful dreams, and my somewhat bohemian philosophies.
And I'm thinking about freelancing. And I'm more than a little nervous about it.
Starting your own business means (1) you have an idea or a product that others will pay money to get, (2) the buck starts and stops with you, and (3) you have to move from a relatively passive role in terms of business success or failure, to a totally active one.
So The First Question Is: What Do I Want To Do?
Another hard question. But I'm a Pollyanna. So I view my recent and unexpectedly early retirement as something that can open doors that I didn't even know were there. To SEE them though, I need to wipe my mental filters clear.
What Did I Like To Do As A Child And Youth?
Write. And Read. And do projects. And figure out what was REALLY going on, particularly how and what other people were thinking, and why.
I started writing stories soon after I learned my A B C's.
I also recall being really excited when our teachers assigned us big, long projects. I'd rush home and start planning it. Doing research. Writing outlines. Putting notes on index cards. Yeah, yeah. Call me nerd. Or dork.
I Wasn't Sure What I Wanted To Be in College:
My early majors in college switched rapidly between English, Journalism, Computers, Nursing and Home Ec. (Go figure). When I finally got my BA, it was in Marketing. I was 38 and a single mom of three young children. It was time to get real. Get a well-paying job with security and regular hours and good benefits. That's what I wanted then.
What Do I Want Now?
I find myself, three months after retirement, slowly returning to my childhood and youthful dreams, and my somewhat bohemian philosophies.
And I'm thinking about freelancing. And I'm more than a little nervous about it.
Writer's Camp
I went to a writing workshop last week by a famous NY literary agent, and boy did I learn a lot. Mostly I learned my novel's first draft is not as good as I thought (hoped?), but it didn't suck either.
Another Six Months' work:
Agent/workshop master Donald Maass told all of us it takes A LONG TIME to get a manuscript to 'breakout' status. His sessions focused on characterization, plot, tension, and setting, among other topics.
My first draft is done, so I estimate it'll take another six months of almost-daily writing to review and revise my novel using Maass' techniques.
At least he didn't tell me to toss it out and start all over again :).
Another Six Months' work:
Agent/workshop master Donald Maass told all of us it takes A LONG TIME to get a manuscript to 'breakout' status. His sessions focused on characterization, plot, tension, and setting, among other topics.
My first draft is done, so I estimate it'll take another six months of almost-daily writing to review and revise my novel using Maass' techniques.
At least he didn't tell me to toss it out and start all over again :).
Monday, February 9, 2009
Line Dancing and Knitting
Recent post-retirement pursuits I've taken up include line-dancing and knitting and crocheting. And no, I'm not doing them simultaneously.
Line-Dancing:
The dancing class is great fun and good exercise too, even if most of us stumble and trip over our own feet pretty often. Our teacher, Leoda, is 93 years old!! She told us that she can't see or hear so well anymore, but from the neck down, she's fine. She can out-dance most of her students.
After we do dances like Cotton Eyed Joe, Elvira, and dozens of others I can't remember, my buddy Terese and I go somewhere nearby for lunch and then we return to the same venue for our afternoon class ----
Knitting/Crocheting!
I've tried to learn to knit before and gave up. But I've always admired the look and touch of knitted things so I decided I'd try again. Lucky for me, Terese was game.
Our group of about a dozen ladies split about half and half right away into wannabe knitters and wannabe crocheters. Most of our fellow knitters seemed to catch on right away from our 95 year old instructor, Mineola. Maybe they already knew the basics.
Mineola, by the way, knits and donates over 400 hats every year. Her mother taught her to knit when she was seven years old.
Terese and I are slow learners. We keep ripping out our weird, lumpy, uneven stitches and then we start again from scratch. A fellow classmate looked at my first sample, giggled, and said wasn't it nice that I'd already learned how to make buttonholes. Har de har har.
Line-Dancing:
The dancing class is great fun and good exercise too, even if most of us stumble and trip over our own feet pretty often. Our teacher, Leoda, is 93 years old!! She told us that she can't see or hear so well anymore, but from the neck down, she's fine. She can out-dance most of her students.
After we do dances like Cotton Eyed Joe, Elvira, and dozens of others I can't remember, my buddy Terese and I go somewhere nearby for lunch and then we return to the same venue for our afternoon class ----
Knitting/Crocheting!
I've tried to learn to knit before and gave up. But I've always admired the look and touch of knitted things so I decided I'd try again. Lucky for me, Terese was game.
Our group of about a dozen ladies split about half and half right away into wannabe knitters and wannabe crocheters. Most of our fellow knitters seemed to catch on right away from our 95 year old instructor, Mineola. Maybe they already knew the basics.
Mineola, by the way, knits and donates over 400 hats every year. Her mother taught her to knit when she was seven years old.
Terese and I are slow learners. We keep ripping out our weird, lumpy, uneven stitches and then we start again from scratch. A fellow classmate looked at my first sample, giggled, and said wasn't it nice that I'd already learned how to make buttonholes. Har de har har.
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