Who Am I Again?

The last week has been full of new discoveries and finding more about myself than I ever thought I could. I did go to the San Francisco Writer's Conference, and I received so much information about the industry as well as building a platform and all in all, just being around writers, agents and editors was truly amazing.

So, what now? I'm overwhelmed. I don't know where to start, and I have so much information to help me. That's encouraging, so I'm on a high about that. After everything I learned, I am also changing my genre. No longer a memoir it will be. I really wanted to write from the heart, but along the way, I could be exposing people or situations where I could hurt some people and also get myself into some serious trouble. I'm just not that type of person, and truth be told, I want to tell my story. Instead, I am going to tell it in an interesting way where it now becomes "a novel, based on a true story". At least I figured one thing out that's definite!

Being amongst so many writers and people in the industry was quite an experience. I met lots of people, but there were so many more I could have met. But, I closed up. I probably appeared unapproachable, but I was terrified. I seriously thought that as I got older that I wouldn't worry as much about what people thought of me. It will probably take ten more years for that. Like I have heard from so many in the past, people view me as this way. It goes something like this:

1. The first time we meet, I might say two words. "Hi, I'm Jenna." Okay, three.
2. The second time we meet, I might say a sentence or two. "Oh, that's cool."
3. People might think I'm just not a nice person based on these first two meetings.
4. But the third time we meet, I will feel much more comfortable and might even say something interesting. "Oh, yeah, I have two girls, too. They are 13 months apart and it is so much easier now than when they were born."
5. By the fourth time, well, you might have to shut me up...

Seriously, I am a classic introvert-extrovert and especially when it comes to meeting new people or being in a foreign situation. And, I was in a situation where I felt so out of my element. By the end, I felt better, but I was so incredibly exhausted. I also wasn't exactly where I wanted to be with my writing going into the conference. It would have been so cool to pitch agents, but oh my gosh, so scary, too.

When all is said and done, I am so glad that I went. I learned so much, and I am more motivated now than ever to DO THIS THANG!