Potential

The first week of my senior year in high school, everything seemed wrong. I didn't have the same lunch period as the friends I normally ate lunch with, I didn't have friends in most of my classes, & I didn't even seem to see them in the hallways. I wasn't impressed with my classes, and even my after-school drama program had moved to a new location that seemed wrong. A week into school, I was despairing, sure that it was going to be a horrible year. In fact, it turned out to be my best school year. I loved my senior year. And in some ways, it probably changed the course of my life for the best. So, I'm going to assume that just because Florida hasn't grown on me after 3 weeks, and just because everything still seems wrong now, that doesn't mean it won't be amazing.

I did join the Florida Writers Association yesterday, just to feel somewhat connected here, but it may not have much to offer for children's writing.

Of course I watched Olympic figure skating last night, and two quotes particularly stuck out to me. One was from Sasha Cohen: "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." Aaahh...that explains a lot. Eek. Another was something Dick Button said about Sasha Cohen, which I later found out was a line from Linus in a Peanuts comic: "There's no greater burden than great potential." In any case, I felt like it was the story of my life! I've heard about my potential, or the potential of my manuscripts, many, many times without ever crossing over from the purgatory of the potential. So there's where I am right now, trying to figure out how to stop doing what I've always done, being stuck in that position of having "potential," and transform the potential into reality, or into accomplishment.

Meanwhile, I'd say that Florida has potential.