Be Seen Trying...

"To be able to do the thing you want, you have to already be doing it. No one is going to know that's what you really want to do or hand that to you from where you currently are. You have

to show them you're already doing it, so they can hire you to do it for them."

~ Gaby Dunn, Bad With Money

---

Recently I was in Washington D.C. for a work training. I was short on free time, but long in spending time in my hotel room, so the main fun was flipping through channels on the hotel TV. As I settled in for the night, I roamed the channels and found the film Julie & Julia; the Amy Adams/Meryl Steep diddy about Julia Childs and an author cooking through her famous book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I've seen it before, not often, and it only now mildly holds up. I mean, it has the black female sidekick that has literally ONE speaking line that's like. "heeeyyyyy!" *severe eye roll* But I digress...

What struck me about the movie, as problematic as it is, is that Amy Adams' character is a stalled writer, who works at a 9/11 call center and as a hobby that becomes a full blog project, decides to cook Childs' whole cookbook in one year, all 524 recipes. What she's currently doing is dying slowly at her job. What she wants to do and be known as is a writer. So, she gives herself a project, writes about cooking (which she already loves), and boom! The NY Times comes calling! Easy peasy!

If only life was that simple. It's not, but it does find a way to speak to me. I realize that when God wants to tell me something important, He'll repeat it.... a few times. #confirmationjunkie During this time I was reading this book, Bad With Money, because strangely just because you become an adult, you don't automatically learn about finances through osmosis. #gofigure The book didn't necessarily give me some magical investment formula or the secret to consolidating retirement funds, but right smack in the middle of the book, was this quote...

“While I worked my day job at the Huffington Post, I decided to start a side project. I wanted to be a news journalist, and what I was doing wasn't going to get me there. I remember thinking one night, and I don't know what inspired the thought, but it's something I carry with me even now. 'To be able to do the thing you want, you have to already be doing it.' It doesn't make sense to sit at an entertainment writing job and wish you were an investigative reporter. No one is going to know that's what you really want to do or hand that to you from where you currently are. You have to show them you're already doing it, so they can hire you to do it for them." ~ Gaby Dunn, Bad With Money

Lord... is that you?? After seeing the movie and reading the book, it reminded me of a video I'd seen years ago from my #internetcousin Evelyn from the Internets. She talked about how you often gotta try things out in public, which is vulnerable and scary (cause people are butts!). But often, it's the people who are willing to look ridiculous that tend to get exactly what they want out of life. #there'snoshortcuts...

So what do I call that? #confirmationagain. So that's how I got here.

I've created this blog because I know that I'm a writer, but I want the rest of the world to know it too and it's not ya'll fault if you don't. I haven't shown the thing, put it out in the open, tried it out, and continued to say that this is what I want to be known for. So, this is me, making the decision to be seen trying. I'm the baby giraffe wobbly, exposed, and bow-legged working to have my writing and stories live somewhere beyond my notebooks under my bed. I'm putting myself out there because this is what I truly want to do, so I already gotta be doing it. Trusting that if I finally can beat #impostersyndrome and my own procrastination, that I'll get there. I'll post things that will make you laugh, cry, think, ponder, wonder, explore, research, share with others. And if I post thing that gives you the spark to partner with me or (lo and behold) hire me.....

So watch this space, watch me move and create, and I encourage you to do the same. Be seen trying. We're in it together. Cheers!

Xo, Jenna