I wrote a 2 sentence story…

There is a contest for a 2 sentence story that several writing friends have entered. I am proud to say I know the first 2 winners!

So I decided to give it a try. If you read my previous blog post you know the inspiration for this one. Please vote if you like it. Here’s the link.

Full time freelance writing- What have I done?

I finally managed to finish my accounting job. Feb 2 was my first day of freelance writing full time. I managed to get a lot of writing done.

I had a goal of writing 4 to 5 Demand.com articles a day. I focused on that and by Thursday had 15 done. I hated it. Demand requires a certain format for their articles. You can’t deviate. It is very restricting. But they pay you on time every week.

Did you noticed I stopped at Thursday? My son woke up on friday with a 102.5 temp. It was a scary day with his fever going as high as 103.9 and him not recognizing me for a few moments. He was sick on and off until wednesday. The doctor said he could go to school Friday the 13th, but I kept him home because his immune system was compromised from the steroids.

So week 2 of my freelance writing career was spent taking care of a very sick 4 year old. I managed to write one article all week.

I also found out that I am going to owe a hefty sum to the IRS for taxes, my husband’s car failed emissions and we have to get it fixed before we can get the tag for it. Oh, and I got a rejection letter.

Overall a very bad week. No income and a rainstorm of bills.

I wish I could say I stayed strong and knew my choice to follow my dream was the right one the whole time- but I didn’t. I have been having some major doubts and have barely managed to keep my head.

Week one had me so sick of writing and then week two had me worried sick about my son. It’s been tough.

But here is what I have learned, which I already knew but forgot. I need to write for better paying markets and I need to write for a variety of them. My mistake was thinking I could replace my income- or almost replace it right away.  I could do that writing 32 Demand articles a week, but I would be miserable beyond belief.

I knew this would be a hard thing to do and I knew that it wouldn’t happen overnight. I need to keep working. Wash, rinse, repeat as my mentor, Michy always says.

I am not a risk taker by nature, so this whole journey has been scary for me. Plus I have always been really good at my job. I don’t get bad reviews. So rejection is hard for me. It is something I need to get used to as a writer, because I am going to hear it a lot.

One highlight of the last 2 weeks was seeing my name under pending interview here. Pending author interview. That’s right, Rissa Watkins, author.

So I am ready for week 3 of the writing career. Here’s hoping I get some good news and make some money. Otherwise I’ll be trying to pay the tax man with copies of the book.

God is calling…

It’s been a strange day. Last night I listened to one of my favorite Collin Raye Songs “A Soldier’s Prayer”. It’s a beautiful song that says God is there. My favorite part is: 

Ask He’ll protect you,
Guide where you go,
Keep you from evil,
That tears at your soul.

Speak to the Father,
Say what’s on your mind,
It just takes a moment
If you’ll take the time.

The song is about having faith in God and tells you that He is listening. Now if you’ve read my blog before, you might know that I have lost my faith. I believe in Him, but I turned my back on Him. I have my reasons and I thought they were good. I have been unable to forgive him.

But today, I feel like He is calling me. After hearing that song again after not listening to it for a while, I decided to go online to facebook. I connected with a childhood friend. I made the comment that she looks so happy in all her pictures. She told me about all the hardships she has suffered, but she has kept her faith and it has seen her through. Ring, Ring

Then I was on my favorite writers forum, Accentuate Services, and saw a post titled Why go to church?  It was a paste from an email that we all see floating around. It was about letters to the editor of a newspaper about going to church. The final letter explained faith and how God nourishes the soul. First Facebook, now on my writers forum, hmmm. Ring, Ring

I made this post on twitter: “After turning my back on Him, I feel like He is reaching out for me, but I don’t know if I am ready to accept Him yet. God is patient right?” I received several wonderful responses that touched my heart and more importantly, my soul. Ring, Ring

I tried to push it to the back of my mind. I don’t have time to deal with this now, I need to write. After several hours of me trying to force myself to write, I asked my writing mentor Michelle L Devon(Michy), for help. As usual she gave me good advice. She said, don’t write. Work on promotion, search for leads and add non-exclusive articles to Helium.com.

I forgot there is more to a writing career than the writing. So I took her advice. I posted an article on helium.com. After you post it automatically takes you to a rating page so you can rate articles by other writers.

Shortly into rating, I was asked to rate this topic: Contemplating the existence of God. I read this beautiful article and recognized the author, Rodney Southern. His article about proving God’s existence, and how he had his faith reinforced brought tears to my eyes. Ring, Ring

I wish, I truly do, that I can say I heeded his call, that my faith was restored. It doesn’t work that way, correction, I don’t work that way. I have to hope it is enough that I am paying attention and I am listening. I hope that I will eventually forgive and ask for forgiveness.

So God, if you are calling, please leave me a message and I will return your call when I can.