Learning to Sell Myself

The other day I was at dinner with my girlfriends family. It was the first time I had spent significant amount of time with her parents, and being parents, they asked what I do for a living. "I'm a clerk at a warehouse!" I responded, wrapping my lips around some cornbread. "And I am trying to be a writer."

You could have sliced thick cheese with the look my girlfriend cut me. Her head twisted towards me so fast I think I saw a biscuit get caught in the updraft. "No!" she said. "He's not TRYING to be a writer. He IS a writer. He's been published, and you can find his stuff on Amazon."

We all went back to our respective noshes (I was plowing through a country fried steak with much aplomb), but the moment stuck with me. Because she's 100% correct. I am an author. I am just a bit bashful about. Whenever someone asks, I always respond the same way. I'm TRYING, not I AM.

And I have to get better about that! I'm not Stephen King, but I am certainly no slouch! I should be doing a better job about selling myself. Because if I don't, who will? (Well, obviously the girlfriend, but she's a bit biased).

It was an eye-opening moment, but one I really needed. So going forward I will be working to sell me, better.

Look out street corners, here I come! ;p