The pursuit of happiness for my writer soul.

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I am a writer.

I have known that simple fact the majority of my life. I have been writing for as long as I can remember. I had my first story published in my school year book when I was in first grade. It was short story, 8 sentences or so, about seeing ants with a fellow student.

It may not sound like much, but hey, I was 6 years old. I still remember the day my teacher told me she was going to be submitting for printing in the school yearbook. This was a big deal. Great one students did not get their work published in the school yearbook. My teacher had been impressed with my six-year-old ability to form sentence structure, create a plotline, and develop characters, all on my own.

By the age of 16, I had decided that I would not likely pursue writing professionally. I also decided that I would not likely pursue acting or singing, which I also loved. Don’t get me wrong, I did apply for journalism and english at several different college and college/university programs around the province. I got accepted to almost all of them. However I turned them down.

The bottom line is that I wanted to get the hell out of Dodge. I was terrified that I if I pursued anything to do with the arts, I would be left as a struggling, job-less writer/actor/singer who would wind up back in my small town, working at Tim Hortons, serving the morning coffee to my piece-of-shit ex-stepfather every morning.

So instead I pursued the business side of writing. I applied for advertising at several schools and got accepted. As I predicted, I was able to obtain a job in the field of advertising and marketing right out of college. I have since built a decent ten-year career in traditional and digital marketing. While I love what I do, and I want to continue doing it, I also feel that I need to get back to the core of my writer soul.

I started this blog nearly 4 years ago as a way to do just that. It is a place for me to share what I want to share. No rules to adhere to. No corporate image to uphold. Just my voice, in my space.

I have always used this blog to write for me, first and foremost. However, I do enjoy working on sponsored content, giveaways, product reviews, etc. It’s in my blood as a seasoned marketer.  I also use this space to share funny moments and photos with my family. My balance of content has always been on the latter, since this is primarily a place for me to capture memories and share my experiences in parenting.

A good old Moleskine.

What I haven’t used this space for much, is the core writing pieces that challenge me. The more lengthy, essay style posts that are full of opinions and stellar wordsmithing. I have done a few and I am very proud of them, but I want to do more.

To use an analogy, I feel like I writer who does warm-ups and sprints regularly, but has completed only a few marathons.

And so here I stand, declaring my 2015 goal (which I refuse to call a resolution) to write more challenging posts. I am going to start with a goal of 1 per month and hope to reach 1 per week by the end of the year. I think this is achievable. I used to be a very fast writer. Just as a runner can increase their time with each race, I will complete more marathon style posts until they once again feel like second nature.

To sum it up hashtag style, I am going to #ReclaimMyWritersSoul.

I might write long-winded opinion posts on something controversial or current in the news. I might write passionate posts about various causes I am involved in. I will certainly write lengthy and heartfelt pieces to or about my children, which I can share with them when they are older. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a lot to say. All of the time.

I have never been accused of being too quiet. Ideally speaking, this blog will start reflecting that. 

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