This morning, I got to work. I would have to put aside my novel and change my focus to finding new avenues to generate income. I had already begun research to organize writing workshops led by published writers in the States, here in Costa Rica. I had reached out to my writing coach in Boston, and she agreed that she would love to lead a workshop here. She even thought we could get enough people to attend just from her existing students. Yes, it’s a great idea, and one I’ll pursue, but I realized any income would be at least nine months out, as people need time to plan.
What other skills do I have? Italian. I speak and write Italian, a fortunate outcome of my first reinvention when I left Oklahoma at the age of eighteen to go to college in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. If I could organize workshops with American writers for Americans, I could organize them with Italian writers for Italians. Another great idea, but again, income would be nine-months out.
What was tangible now was the desire to write. I scratched my head again. I’ve got a Master’s degree in Journalism and studied magazine writing twenty-two years ago. I have an Internet connection here in the jungle. Maybe I could write and sell some magazine articles? I remembered reading my sister’s issues of More on the plane back to Costa Rica and relating a great deal to the articles. I had always wanted to publish a magazine article, but had never tried. Hmmm? I thought over my morning coffee, while looking out over the exploding green jungle to the soft, secluded shores of the Pacific below. Maybe I could write an article for More? I took another sip. Who knows, maybe they might even be interested in a monthly column about a woman in the midst of a reinvention who hits potholes and is forced to re-direct her path, navigate new territory, and even reassess the feasibility of her original goal? I got up from my porch, penned these words, and sent them to More — my mantra reverberating: Build the life you want. Not the one you don't.
