Back to My Roots

Back to “My Roots”

Um, no not the gray ones – that’s a different article. I mean, today I decided to get back to my passion – writing. I joined the Writing.com community back in 2005, after winning an essay contest, sponsored by the management company of the apartment complex I was living in. The company was “Habitat” and my essay was titled “Why I love my habitat”. After learning that I’d won the contest, I re-wrote and posted the essay here (“Queendom in the Sky”). The reviews were mostly good. Of course, some considered it a shameless plug for the property. Be that as it may, I didn’t get any benefit from it.

Since 2004 when I moved in, wrote the essay and won the prize for it, so much has changed. New management company, no more “biosphere”; noisy, inconsiderate, college-kid neighbors; increasing rent with decreasing convenience and amenities. Yet another story.

Meanwhile, because of the economy, my financial situation has gone from bad to worse. I’ve been struggling to find a “real” job (steady, 9-5, with benefits, etc.) for at least the past 4 years. While I was looking, I came across and accepted several part-time, contract, and/or hourly gigs. I took them thinking “A little money is better than no money.” Hope sprang eternal that any one of them would somehow turn into a permanent, full-time career. That didn’t happen. I did make a little “pocket” money. But that’s all it was. Recently, I was informed by a recruiter at one of many office temp agencies I’ve applied to, that they are looking for people who have a steady job history/experience. The only really steady experience I have is in LOOKING for a steady job.

So after all these years of looking for a needle in a haystack, today I had an epiphany – I decided to focus on my primary passion: writing, hence the title of this essay. Since I started with Writing.com in 2005, I have had some success with writing/publishing my work to other sites. But regrettably, I didn’t stay with it. I got distracted with pursuing a “real” job. Now I’ve realized how futile that is for me, and have decided to work for ME! I think I’m a pretty good writer about the “human experience” (what I often think of as the “human experiment”, but again – that’s a different, separate writing project). I’ve had a plethora of adventures in unemployment/under-employment as fodder to write about. Will it sell? I don’t know. But at least I know I have a talent/commodity that might sell. I take it (the talent) for granted. My mistake, perhaps. But today I have a different perspective, and I’ve decided to run with it.