A Resolution Led to A Revelation

Last year I made resolutions…for the first time ever. But resolution-setting is really a less hardcore version of goal-setting, right? It’s just for those who resolve to accomplish something, but won’t be devastated if they don’t.

So I guess it was my first time calling my goals resolutions.

Anyway, one of my resolutions was to start and nurture a blog. By nurture I mean attempt to grow it into something by routinely practicing my craft.

I’ve always preferred to write my thoughts over saying them. In writing no one hears your pregnant pauses and uncertain stammers. I can say exactly what I want to say and erase it if it’s not precisely what I want to communicate. I love the thought that can go into each word in each sentence. But I have never known if anyone would like and/or read anything I wrote.

I figured I had nothing to lose. I like to write, if folks like to read it, that’s an added bonus.

Wait. I’m lying.

I felt like I had a lot to lose by sharing my blog. I could post something with a typo and lose credibility. I could voice a strong opinion and lose someone’s respect. I could share my heart and lose my privacy. 

I was traumatized the first time I linked a post to my Facebook account. Not only did it feel odd and like self-promotion, I did not know what response I hoped for. If people read it, they’d know some personal thoughts pulled from the heart, but if they did not, I would continue to wonder if I was any good. Eventually I saw the share as an opportunity to gauge my chances of writing as a career. A public opinion poll of my skill level, if you will.

Some of my professors in college were warm and encouraging, but most of the journalism department had a dismal outlook on the direction of their field. Newspapers were dying. Citizen blogs were thriving. Was journalism even a relevant thing to study anymore? What can you do with a J degree?

PR. Yes. That’s what we’ll all do. PR.

Not that there is anything wrong with public relations, but there are a heck of a lot of comm studies majors pursuing PR. It may be tougher to get a PR gig than a reporting position.

It was not until I started gaining confidence from the feedback on this blog that I dared to dream about actually getting paid to pound out words. I’ve done fluff stories on food for Tucson Lifestyle Magazine, but the culinary arts is not my area of expertise.

Swimming is. I know the ins and outs of the sport.  If one could attain a doctorate in swimming, I think I’d be a doc by now.

I’ve climbed the ladder and know what every training phase feels like. I have achieved my collegiate goal and fallen short of my Olympic goal. I married an immensely gifted guy and had the unfathomably cool experience of watching him become an Olympic champion.

I have retired from the sport, yet never tired of the sport.

Writing about the sport seems all too perfect. Could I actually make money doing that?!

On January 1, I began working for Swimming World Magazine. It’s the publication I used to memorize in my age group years. I would flip to the last four pages and study the fine print listing the top 16 age groupers in each event. I was overjoyed when I finally saw my tiny name on the glossy page. The magazine made it so I could compete against the nation. I’d stay up late leafing through the pages of Swimming World and thinking of how neat it would be to be in one of those swimsuit ads…or at least be friends with the studly models.

I’m not sure if kids of this swimeration wear the pages of SW ragged as I did. But I find it ever so fitting that I’m working for this publication. I edit weekly stories submitted by SW’s 18 college interns. I’d never thought of myself as an editor before. It’s mind-cramping work, but the days speed by as I dive into each new batch of words.

I’ve messed up. I miss simple edits. I missed one in the title of an article last week. Ouch. It’s humbling. And every hiccup makes me realize what a proud soul I am/how much I hate being wrong. The sting of my mistakes is incentive to be better. Editing is something you cannot wing, so I’m fully immersed in whatever it is I’m reading. I know this is a job that will only sharpen my own writing. Oh, yes…my own writing. I do get to write a story every week for Swimming World online and a personality feature every month for the print edition. Between editing, my SW assignments, local freelancing, coaching,  snuggling my pups, attempting to make enough food to keep the bottomless Matt Grevers full, working out, and sleeping, my time to blog has disappeared!

Moral of my story:

My 2014 NY resolution flourished into something big. A complete career change. I’m working with words and it feels so write (had to). Thank you anyone and everyone who truthfully said they liked my blog or lied and said it just to be nice. Your “likes” and “shares” have led me to opportunities to grow in a field I love. I love treading through words as much as I loved racing through water. If only wordsmithing burnt that many calories.