Fund A Writer's Debut

I have spent my life being a Jill of all trades. I have written grants and been the manager of a retail store. I've worked as an administrative assistant and I've sold newspaper subscriptions over the phone while my toddler crawled around my legs. I worked a single four-hour shift at an upscale Japanese restaurant where I was trained by a person speaking Japanese (I don't speak Japanese).

I've been on countless interviews, the best being with a board of directors where I proposed the creation of a children's librarian position for their small library and then later went on to fill and fund the spot. And the worst being an interview where a bed-ridden gentleman was looking for an "assistant" and requested that I change his catheter during the interview.

Throughout my adult life, during times of deprivation, I have found myself scanning classifieds with little discrimination, being confident that I could somehow do whatever became available. Night housekeeper at the local hotel? Of course! Forklift operator at the cereal plant? No problem! Radiologist? As long as I had access to a search engine, I'm sure I'd be fine! I would fake it until I made it.

Throughout these years of insane thinking the constancy has been writing, but somehow that never felt like enough. It never felt valid. It felt like something I did in between or on top of everything else. I couldn't be a real Writer because I wasn't brooding enough or hadn't done heroin or hadn't traveled to South America. I could never call myself a Writer because somehow that felt...fraudulent.

But of course the interesting thing is that all along the front I kept up - the one of manager or administrative assistant or grant-writer "“ that front - was the fraud. Somehow I had managed to trick myself into thinking I was presenting myself as legitimate and valid when I was ignoring my Actual Self.

I always had a secret sense that my perspective could provide wisdom and insight for others. And so this is my Debut. I have a story to tell and it is a story for others as well as myself. My end goal is to seek publishing, but this fundraising effort is about the time that comes before that. I write, but I need to continue and I need financial support to do that. I have three young children, I work freelance and I'm back in school. My time and my money is sparing. Simply put, this is me asking for financial support in order to do the job I've been interviewing for my entire life. But even more than that, this is about giving those who support me an opportunity to show their support. This is about you having my back and demonstrating my work's value for you.

My intent is to raise enough money to be able to spend at least an hour a day writing. I will do this for a year. Some of this writing will be on my personal blog which I invite you to visit, and some will be done separately. When the year is over, I plan to work on securing a publisher. Money donated will be providing me with a stipend for my time.

You can find samples of my writing at http://wheresarawrites.com/

I truly appreciate all donations. They will all be acknowledged in the dedication page of my book.


Sara