At the August Ozarks Writers League meeting, Deborah LeBlanc spoke about "Thinking Outside of The Box." She spoke of the necessity for writers to think of new ways to market themselves and their stories. Being one to stay inside the box--my comfort zone--I listened with hesitant interest to her philosophy: if hundreds of thousands of writers all stay within the same box, the chances of ever getting published, noticed, known, appreciated--whatever form of recognition desired--are close to nil.
Even with my apprehension to venture outside of my safe zone, Ms. LeBlanc planted a seed, and my mind has been abuzz with ideas. After all, part of what makes a comfort zone comfortable is the fact that it's predictable. Well, the "box" of a writer's world is far from predictable, so why stay inside it?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right? So, last night, I ventured a pretty good distance outside of the box. Did I stray too far? Only time will tell.
All I know is, I won't have to ask myself, "What if?"
