48

Today, I’m 48 years old. This is the 10th anniversary of starting my blog and doing my first bodybuilding competition. Time flies!

Every year for my birthday I do something to scare myself. It makes me feel alive and pushes me to do things outside my comfort zone. My friend at the gym asked me, “What’s your birthday scare this year?” and honestly, I’m stumped. I’ve been so focused on writing and editing my novel I haven’t thought up anything.

Past Birthday Scares

I’ve already faced body image fears (bikini competition), fear of injury (Spartan race), fear of intense endurance (marathon), fear of being middle aged and unsexy (pole dance fitness competition), fear of heights (sky diving), fear of reality TV shows (cast on American Grit), fear of writing my first novel (finished the manuscript – yay!), fear of being unfunny/bombing on stage (five minutes of stand up comedy).

But some things take longer to accomplish than birthday-to-birthday. I’m still working on my novel Trouble the Water. So as an extension of that goal, this year I’m going to try to get a literary agent and go the traditional publishing route, as opposed to self publishing, like I did with my other books.

Why does this scare me?

JUDGEMENT! When you write a book, it’s like your baby. These characters are living in my brain, having conversations with each other. I’m rooting for the protagonists and hope the villains get their comeuppance in spectacular fashion. I think my story is good, but will anyone else? Will an agent read my work and think, “I can make money off this story? I can see it turned into a TV show on Netflix?” That’s what I’m hoping.

I’ve never sought a literary agent before and I feel very vulnerable. Publishing can be cut-throat. Editors can be mean. There are so many authors out there already…but why not me too, right? So, I’m going to try. It may not be as exciting as jumping out of a plane, but that’s what it feels like to me.

How about you? What are you doing to push yourself outside your comfort zone? Birthday-to-birthday, make this the best year of your life.

Lisa 😉

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