I’m sure you’ve had this experience. You make a plan to do something, you start executing that plan, things are working, things are cooking, and then someone comes along with an “opportunity” for you that, when it comes down to it, you just can’t pass up. It will take time, energy, and creativity (which you have already earmarked for your planned work) but you just can’t pass it up because it will give as much as it takes–more experience, connections, and, oh yeah, money. And suddenly your perfectly apportioned calendar becomes bloated and more complicated. You start to get nervous and you think to yourself “I don’t know about this…”

Ever happen to you?

As you may have guessed, a nice, paying writing opportunity was dropped in my lap this week and I have decided to pursue it. I have also decided to keep my promise to myself and any potential readers out there to write and self-publish one short story each month. I also need to finish pulling together a proposal for a writing conference, make a quilt for a friend, clean my house up before my mother arrives for a visit (today), and, what was that other thing? That’s right, my full time job. Thank goodness there are still three more months before I need to think about yard work.

Just like that the very lovely January feeling of finally having your calendar and your goals under control dissipates into a vaguely uneasy sense that you will get it all done (because you have to) but you might not always enjoy it.

There you have it. Opportunity comes along at inopportune times. But you still need to grab it and run with it and realize that, with a little crazy ambition and an understanding spouse, you are hard at work blazing the trail to the life you truly want–the writing life.

You know what? 2013 is going to be a great, crazy year.