Facing Challenges.

How do you react to a challenge?

Big or small, we’re faced with challenges every day. Some, it might be best to walk away from, but others can take your life in a whole new direction.

I’ve had serious challenges throughout the course of my life, as I’m sure you have. So I thought I’d share…

The first one was in college I was in the landscape design program and I walked into a room full of men and three women. The instructor looked at us three women and said, “you’ll never make it through the first semester and you’ll never graduate”. Well, that put my back up against the wall and I accepted his challenge.  Surprise! I graduated with one of the highest grades in the design class.

Another time was right after I got married. I was working for a large design firm and the son-in-law of the owner approached me after I came back from my honeymoon. After congratulation me on getting married, he asked how long he could count on me to work before I got pregnant and left the firm. That was enough for me to look for other avenues of income. When the opportunity came for my husband and I to leave the area and move the Florida, we didn’t hesitate. And little did he know, my son wouldn’t arrive  for 13 years. He sure missed out on the benefit of my employment in those 13 years!

Of course, being married and raising a child there’s all kinds of challenges that face you on a day-to-day basis. Medical issues pop up, school crisis are averted, and human dynamics are worked through. So far, I’ve been blessed and had few major crisis in this area.

But, I did face another personal challenge just recently, and that was a challenge involving writing…

I was challenged by a group of friends to pursue a lifelong dream and write a book. With a little bit of prodding and poking, I accepted the challenge, and, settled myself down to overcome one more challenge. My goal was to write a full-length book and know somebody read it.

I overcame that challenge with flying colors I now have 8 books written in 2 different series, with the outlines for many more.

Yet, I found as I accepted this challenge there were many smaller hurdles to overcome. Probably the biggest for me was overcoming my spelling and grammar insecurities. I never seem have a problem finding a story to tell, my problem has always been getting it down on paper so others can enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m by no means perfect, and I still make a lot of the same mistakes, but at least I don’t  let them hold me back.

The other big challenge I faced was publishing independently. There were so many things to learn and it changes daily. Thankfully there is a good network of other writers that are willing to share their information and support.

Another challenge I faced in this writing process came from some fellow writers. Take part in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This meant I would attempt to write a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days.

I figured there was no way this would be possible, but, like every other challenge I imagined unattainable,  I somehow completed it. Since that first NaNoWriMo challenge, it has come a little easier for me. I’ve learned how to prepare and enjoy it. I’ve made some wonderful on-line friends who are more than willing to share what they  learned through their  writing challenges.

And through it all that is what has made each and every challenge achievable; the love and support of my family and friends.