I’m home all by myself right now and I’m in heaven. It’s just me and my cat in the house. It’s so quiet and peaceful and I’m sitting here watching thunderstorm clouds blow by. I’m the person you’re going to see off in the corner by myself. And I’m perfectly happy to be that person. I am stepping out on a limb Saturday and meeting a fellow ACFWer for coffee, while she’s in town visiting family.

Talking to people at conference didn’t happen last year. I couldn’t make myself do it. If Kaye and Erica hadn’t talked to me first, I probably never would have worked up the nerve! I think it’ll be much easier this year since we’ve got our little forum group going and I feel like I know some of you already.

I think it is great that you love speaking in public – I despise it. Interesting how we are all so different.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, M-B works with 4 axes of personality: introverted/extroverted, sensory/intuitive, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving. A fun test is located at
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp After you have your personality type, google it (eg INTJ) for lots of fascinating info. As far as writing, I was once advised that Meyers-Briggs personality categories can even be used to help build consistent characters!

What a great post to make my return. Growing up, I was the classic introvert, but jobs and livelihood turned towards sales, and I had to “turn it on” to become a great salesman. It worked, but only when working. I’m still incredibly shy when on my own.

As I grew toward fulltime freelancing, I began retreating again – and even today, made the comment that I was becoming more hermit-like each day – and enjoying it. Even going to the grocery store, being around people drains me to the point of headache every time.

So this challenges me. More than you could realize. I’m trying to decide now whether to go to conference. Finances are a major factor, but my current hermit status plays an almost equal role – it would be a major step out of my comfort zone.

Thanks for the challenge.

Sadly, I’ve had to back out of going to the ACFW conference for some family reasons. I’m bumped and get depressed just thinking about it but I know this is what God is calling me to do. He’s the boss. I’m listening. Otherwise, I’d add actually attending agent and editor meetings to my list of stepping outside my comfort zone. I didn’t do any such meetings at the last writer’s conference I was at in June, so this would have been a great one to try that at, too. Praying that next year will be my first ACFW conference.