Investing in Yourself


So today I was paying bills and looking at this next check. It is one of those 'free checks' where we use it to put money in the bank in savings, car maintenance and in general get ahead.

I always make a list of expenses for these checks before we get them. This time we are putting tires on the Focus and sending Connla and Tony to Webeloes Camp. We are also paying for the Harriet Austin Writers Conference.

I got to adding it up. The hotel will be $175 for two nights. I need to go to both nights so that I can go to the conference receptions and dinners. The whole point of this conference is to meet agents and editors and get some momentum and encouragement about Southern Stories and Family Coven. The receptions and dinners both cost money so that is going to be another $45. Then you add workshops and conferences for both days and you are at $250. Then add a fee for entering a synopsis of Southern Stories and Family Coven and you can tact on another $100. That is $570 and doesn't include gas to get there and breakfast and water.

I turned to Tony and said, "It is just so much money and I don't want it to be a waste of time or a waste of money." Tony said, "You have to invest money to make money."

It struck me. Invest in myself? Wow. Think about that. How many of us have dreams we are unwilling to invest in? Isn't this exactly why my mother and my grandmother never continued on, never got published themselves. They didn't really believe in what they were doing enough to invest time, money and sweat.

The cost is still a lot for this one income family to handle; however, I am a good investment.