Writer Unblocked

Before I was an unemployed stay at home mother of four kids, I had a job. That was another me. Sure I worked with kids, but I did my job well, I dressed professionally and at the end of a long day I didn't take the kids home with me. My how things have changed; how I've changed. Now, I I dress like a slob, I constantly question whether I do my job well and these kids? I can't send them home, because they live here.

For a few years now, I've wondered (ok, worried, stressed and anguished) about the direction my professional life would take. You know, once all my kids were in school and I actually did have a professional life again. So now at 41, I'm back to the age old question, what will I be when I grow up? Which begs the preliminary question, when the hell will I grow up? My mind swirled with possibilities.

During all this contemplation (and swirling), we moved to Africa and I started this blog. It was my way of sharing our Moroccan experience and travels with family and friends. Then, to my surprise, friends recommended other friends and then total strangers started reading. The more I wrote, the more my world started to change. When I wasn't writing, I was thinking about writing. I came to realize I was entranced by words. I fell in love with the thesaurus. (Today's word of the day on thesaurus is bellwether by the way. Bellwether. Isn't that an awesome word?) My geeky-word-research-loving self felt curiously, exhilaratingly at home.

A couple of weeks ago I was at a friend's house and we all took the Myers-Briggs personality test. I had taken it several times before, but forgot what my exact type is, besides geeky freak girl of course. But now, I can declare with absolute certainly (well, maybe one standard deviation of certainty or so), I'm an INFJ. What does this mean? The research says INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types. It goes on to say they're tortured perfectionists. Holy crap, that's totally me. They had me at tortured...

Now here's the kicker, what careers are a good for the INFJ? Counseling. Guess what I did pre-kids? Yup, I worked in the social work field. Checked that box. And dot-da-da-da...writing.

Freaky/Cool Factoid: Did you know that Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers created this assessment for women entering the work force during World War II to help women decipher their workplace assets? And here I am a stay-at-home mom in the middle of World War III, otherwise known as my house, trying to do the same exact thing. Can you say koinky dink?

You know when you're little and someone asks you what you want to be and out of your mouth comes one of the top five most ridiculously unattainable jobs your deluded mind can muster.

Jobs like:

1. Professional Athlete. I mean come on, what are the chances?
2. Astronaut. You want to go into space? Who doesn't? (Besides me.)
3. Singer. As evidenced by American Idol, many people think they can sing, but most can't.
4. Actor. Can anyone explain Jennifer Tilly to me? ANYONE???
AND
5. Writer. Who doesn't want to write the next great American novel? Not me.
(Ok, that was a confusing double negative.)

Well I've been scared of sounding like that deluded little kid inside me for a long time. So I'm just gonna say it. Right now. Ok, give me a second. Maybe two. Now I'm gonna take a deep breath. And a slow exhale. I want to be a writer. There, I've said it.



Finally, my 2011 Writer's Market (Deluxe Edition, mind you) has arrived from Amazon. I ordered it at the beginning of summer and it was lost in transit. The plane must have taken the infamous Bermuda triangle route so much of our mail takes. So now, now that I've put my intention out there. Now it's time to do research on how to make this happen. How to become a Freelance Writer. Did I mention I love research? Does anyone else think the "free" in Freelance Writer is a bit of an ironic title when you want to get paid to write?

So maybe you or someone you know have a business that needs prostituting? I mean promoting. Need of a writer to make your eharmony profile jump off the screen to find that special someone? Or just tonight's someone special? Whatever, I won't judge you. Do you want a ghost writer to chronical your fabulous celebrity life or not so fabulous non-celebrity life in your very own biography? Want snarkier facebook statuses? Do you need an A on that term paper? If so, I'm your girl. Ok, I was totally joking on the term paper. I have my principles. (I would so get you an A though, I'm just sayin'...)



Just in case you can't read the small fringy pull off tabs on the bottom, contact Marie: loerzelgang at yahoo dot com.

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