La Bene Vita

Jack of All Trades

I've always been the quintessential "Jack of all trades and master of none" that you hear about, and I'm kinda tired of it. I wanna be master of all trades. Okay, fine, maybe just master of two or three: Music, Entrepreneurship, Writing. But apparently, that's still too many.

I've been surreptitiously entering writing contests. Don't try to find my entries; they're hidden, they're gone, you won't find them. It's an experiment, and one that requires anonymity to tell me the truth about my writing. It's been awhile, but I entered a lot of contests when I first joined WDC, and I discovered at the time that I wasn't Number One. I wasn't even Number Two or Number Three most times, where three places were there to be had, at least not in the opinions of the judges whose opinions mattered. Apparently, I'm still not Number One, Two, or Three. Well - occasionally I am, but not nearly often enough to be called "Master."

I've also been reading a lot in the last year or so, and I'm noticing things that make good writing superior. But I can't remember them by the time I get to the end of the book. I'm getting old, I'm not taking notes (mostly because I read in bed and in the car - with headphones, don't get excited), and I have too many other things in my brain.

This is why you can't be master of more than one trade. You have to FOCUS on one trade to really master it. You have to study it. Dissect it. Emulate it. Do it over and over and over again.

I honestly can't decide if I would want to be a professional writer. At times, I think, I want to create something like that awesome book I just read. I have the imagination, but the execution isn't there, and it won't be without practice - the kind you get with an eight-hour-a-day job. Do I want to invest that kind of practice?

Obviously, I don't want to right now. If I did, I'd be doing it. I'm doing other things, as many of you know. But I'm a project girl - and shhhh, don't tell my staff - but I'm the kind of girl who would establish a company and then walk away and let it run itself. I'm still in project mode, because while the first campus is a success, I haven't expanded into multiple campuses yet, and that's a project in itself, and one that I intend to tackle in 2013.

But after that... I just don't know. I've got the writing itch. I don't know how long it can simmer on the back burner before boiling over.

(Look at that - cliche and alliteration all rolled into one! Who says I'm not a master writer?)