Maybe I’m happy I’m at the time of my life when I can write all of that down and find a place for it in my current manuscript. Or if not that scene, exactly, perhaps a similar scene from one of the many chapters in my life. I always longed to be a novelist, but when I was younger I wondered what I possibly had to write about. Now I have so many life experiences, I can’t seem to find the time to write all the stories that I could draw from my life.
But I’m still in that in-between time where I’m still young enough to work, so I must squeeze out time for writing those fictional scenes that scream to be written while I continue to write technical manuals. So maybe my field hasn’t completely been turned over to the young – there are still some of us “old-timers” hanging around – those of us who paved the way for all that is happening in technology today, reinventing ourselves as the technology changed along the way. So maybe old technical writers don’t retire – they just go to Las Vegas and wither away in the desert. But not for me. No, I have better plans.
I may still have one foot in my first act, and one in my second act, but I'm going to keep moving forward until I have both feet in my second act. And, instead of looking back on my yesterdays, I’m going to say good-bye to the past, focus on today, and make decisions that will enhance my tomorrow. After all, reinvention is what women do best.
For more insights into discovering your second act, read Why Reinvention Is Like Weaving.
