TODAY!!!

Today, I am a freelance writer.

I became a writer at the tender age of thirteen when, as a seventh grade student in junior high, my English teacher began a segment of lessons on poetry. I never knew I could write before this time although I had been told I saw things differently then the rest of the world. My writing evolved from poetry to songs (music is still in my head for them) and even had friends ask me to write things for them to present to boyfriends.

In college I enjoyed writing papers in Eng 101 and 102. My favorite style there became "Argument and Persuasion". No, I am not an argumentative type of person, however I have tested and proved that in my writing I can lead my readers to my way of thinking. I just forgot about that over the years and went in other directions with my writing.

I never dreamt of being a writer. I just loved writing. It became the voice for this painfully shy girl. I found that in my written words I could say things I would never have the courage to audibly say. Prior to writing my first novel, my friends had to 'convince' me to write it. I did not consider myself a novelist. A poet perhaps, but a novelist, no. So my wonderful friends worked at pushing me to take up pen and pad to write my first novel. I was relaxing one evening in mid June 2001 and took a pen a pad near me and started jotting down the characters. By mid March 2002, I was finished writing. There would still be a lot of editing and refining to be done, but the manuscript was completed.

Last year, pretty much as a joke I submitted an on-line query to a publisher for this manuscript. I was dumbfounded when they said they wanted to publish it. I thought, due to a stupid mistake I made, that this was never going to happen. So last week, I began making plans to self-publish a book of my poetry. While doing this I got the confirmation that my novel will be on shelves shortly. I will go forward with both books now.

Why the history lesson, you ask? To show you that a dream I never had is coming true. After losing my job in October and considering the evil dragon called Meniere's that has entered my life, I knew that my writing must become my career. I began talking to people in the business and reading. One of the first pieces of advice I received was that to be a good writer I must read and read, and do more reading. This I am doing.

I began seeing ideas for writing articles everywhere I looked. I started reading up on them and trying my hand at writing some. I subscribed to The Writer and started learning more. A recent article I read told how the author became a freelancer. My thought was "I can do something like that too". About a month ago I took an on-line career test to see what it suggested I do with my life. The main choice was writing. A tie for tops was working in a museum.

I love museums of all kinds. I began thinking about how to tie the two together. I can write about museums and special exhibits in museums. I started looking for publications where I can publish these articles. I found the American Association of Museums (AAM) and didn't think I could get into it as I do not work for or own a museum.

Today, I filled out the form and was granted membership to the AAM. On the application I put "I am a freelance writer writing about museums and special exhibits". I didn't think I would be accepted, but low and behold, I WAS. I called myself a Freelance Writer and was granted admittance to one of the most prestigious organizations within the community I desire to write in.

Today, I AM a FREELANCE WRITER!!!!