ON TRYING

Re-reading Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" I've remembered many things about my youth and the then future dreams of becoming a writer and living by my wits, as Woolf would say. But --there's always a but-- apparently that is not as defying as it used to be and it has never been like the best option. Mmm, maybe not. I don't know what I need to start. My daughter says there's no such thing as a writer's block, only insecurity, maybe she's right.

When I was young I used to think that time would make things happen somewhat. Now I know that I have to make things happen. I have to pick the pen, or attack the keyboard --that would be better-- to start writing. I have to look within, no matter how corny that may sound, and start developing a story. J.K. Rowling (excuse me from going from Woolf to Rowling) had no choice but to believe. She was waitressing and her daughter used a fruit box (or something like that) as a craddle, she only had one toy. Now she's one of the richest women in England and I daresay in the world. Take Stephenie Meyer and her twist on vampires. It is amazing how many people, women mainly, all ages, read, and carry! those heavy books in the subway. I still have to read that one and her bio. Want me to quote more serious writers and not best-sellers only? Ok, take Doris Lessing. She was a secretary who had an idea and decided to take a year leave to find out if she was good. Last year she won the Literature Nobel. No, she doesn't write about wizards or vampires, but still she writes in a way everybody understands and enjoys and I don't mean easy reading, but touching deep chords reading.

So far my greates hits have been my Influenza Diaries and my cooking recipes. I have experience in writing diaries since I was, what? 9, 11? A very young girl. And cooking has always been a part of my life. My grandparents, my parents, my brother, my aunts, and not just the basics, great laborious meals!

Should I write a new kind of literature involving cooking? Novels around recipes have been written, I've read them. Should I write about women in the XXIst century? Wow! What an original idea! Should I write yet another cook book? Girls nowadays are forgetting how to cook the basics, although some others are taking gastronomy classes.

How can I make money and be happy? How can I make money and be free? How can I make money without stress? Any ideas?

By the way, I prepare you for the TOEFL if you're interested :)