Transitions are always interesting. I’ve written before about the transition from Married to Widow; this one is different. That one was not a choice. This one is a choice. I get to think about it, play with the idea, see how it fits, decide if I like it. The other is like Dorothy’s house falling on you; it happened, so deal with it. I prefer the choice.

One of my current transitions is from a person who writes into a writer. That is intimidating to post on this blog. It is obvious that I have been writing for a while now, but writing is different than being a writer. I have written all of my professional life – memos, proposals, articles, chapters. None of them required me to put myself out there for every one to see in the way that writing a blog about loss or sharing that I am curious as to why the image of Dorothy’s house came to mind falling on me. It fell on the Wicked Witch of the West. Am I the Wicked Wi…..? That is probably a different post.

On to being a writer. Being a writer means that I need to make a commitment to myself to write almost every day. That means that I need to figure out what to write. As I sit here now two areas of writing seem to be on my plate. First are all of the topics related to Serene Women. That is a broad menu: Serenity and everything that contributes to it (spirituality, love, self-awareness, acceptance, growth, family, friends, fun, the list could go on and on) and women and everything pertinent to them (I think that might be everything in the world). And all of that comes out of me and my life and my experience. It can be a bit intimidating, and a great way to grow.

The other is writing fiction. The idea of writing a novel or short stories is appealing. I have always loved to tell stories to kids. Now telling them for adults seems a reasonable progression. Creating characters and things for the characters to do and experience is a whole new effort for me. So far it has been fun. I have found myself writing that the character did this or that and then think, “That is a great idea! Maybe I should do that.”

Then I start to fantasize. Writers look different, they wear odd hats or bohemian clothing or wild scarves. Will I do that? Do I need a new wardrobe? Writers have weird hours. Should I stay up all night and sleep all day? Writers often live in exotic places. Should I move to Bali? Will I become famous and need to wear dark glasses to keep from being recognized? Then I look at the number of people reading my posts and see eight or nine readers and realize I don’t need to worry about the dark glasses yet.

The transition is in process. The blogs are appearing regularly. The novel is started. I belong to a writers’ group. I am acting like a writer – at least sometimes. That is the first step – fake it ’til you make it!