To be honest, I’ve been thinking about it since I was about twelve years old and I’d sing along the The Beatles Paperback Writer.  By the time I was twenty years old and a sophomore at Michigan State I had an independent study class where I wrote the outline of my memoir and got a 4.0 on it.  Sadly, once I ran out of money one year shy of my college graduation, my dreams of writing a book faded.  My outline has just sat in a box in storage, moving with me twenty-two times and has started to yellow.  I feel weird trying to become a writer because I don’t have a degree in English or even a B.A.  (I have a B.S. in Public Administration/Community Development with a minor in Recreation, but I did major in English at MSU  for a year.)  I feel after a few months of blogging that I have trained myself for the challenge of writing on a serious basis. 

Do you think I can do it? 

I’m here today at the public library on my lunch hour, sitting behind my estranged brother who never seems to notice that I’m hiding from him.  Maybe he is just spying on me, but why come to the library near my work?  I have been browsing all the popular memoirs, and had a little chuckle at who has written (Or ghost written) their own life stories.  Heck, even Paris Hilton has a book about her and her sister out there.  I mean, come on, who would read that?  I figured why can’t I put one out there about myself? 

I’m sort of joking when I write this, but really, who is my market?  White trash, 30-somethings, people from the state of Michigan, and Arthritis and Fibromyalgia sufferers?  Girl who love rock music, Star Wars and British literature?  Do I have a broader appeal?  I guess if you are none of those things, comment here to perk me up!

Here is what I’m most worried about: that it’ll suck.  Sure, it would be fun to be a famous writer, travel on book tours and have deadlines.  (I love a challenge!) But can I earn a living off it?  My goodness, I can’t even imagine the thrill of doing nothing but creating something all day long.  I sit at work now, just setting up “things” and scheduling “things” and issuing “things.”  The monotony is killing me.  I daydream like a crazy person, and often drift in and out of consciousness at work. 

I don’t need to be super famous or even rich but I’d like to at least parlay this into a better job that involves writing, and I’ll always want to keep writing my blog as a hobby.  Writing has always been a blast for me.  That is why I loved graduate school, it is all about the writing and the research, my favorite two things.   Yes, I am aware that I am a nerd.

Please share your thoughts, and if you know me in real life, let me know what I need to include.  I have a horrible time recalling a lot of my childhood and even a bit of my tweens (Angie was the one who reminded me that my own brother had juvenile arthritis and he missed like the whole year of school.) so comment here or email me what you considered funny or sad or just pivotal and needs to be in my book.  Ah, I have no idea how to begin.  

If you are a real writer and want to help a novice, I’ll take any advice I can get.