Abby Fitz - It's All About Me

I was born in Jacksonville, Florida, one fall afternoon in 1976. My parents were older, and both had their own children from previous marriages.

Unfortunately, my father's only son had been killed in a plane accident eight years before. There were no other males in the family, and he and my grandfather wanted a boy to carry on the family name.

They had their hopes set on a boy, but they got me instead. I think they ended up getting a better deal with me though.

And if there weren't lessons available? Well, I taught myself what I wanted to learn. I begged my father one year to buy me a violin. I wanted to play one very badly, and I knew if I could just get my hands on one I could play it. He finally broke down and bought me one from a pawn shop, and I taught myself to play the violin by ear.

I also taught myself to crochet, knit, tat, and to drive. (both of my parents made me a nervous wreck behind the wheel:)

I also love photography. My family runs in the opposite direction when they see me with a camera.

I had my son when I was 18. I always joked with him that after he turned 18 I'd still be young enough to party. Well, he's 18, but I'm still not partying. I'm just a .party pooper I guess.

I'm awfully proud of him. He's taken after me in the fact that he loves music. He's taught himself to play the guitar, drums, and piano.

My other child lets me do just about anything I care to. If he bugs me too much, I can just leave him in his room until he can behave. He doesn't talk back either. He's the perfect child.

I graduated from high school as valedictorian. I didn't start college right away, because I had my son the next fall.

I graduated with an A.S. degree for Legal Secretaries. I found out I didn't much care for law, and I never really worked more than a few months in an attorney's office.

After that I worked at a weight loss clinic. It was fun and I enjoyed the job, but I felt like life was passing me by being stuck in an office day in and day out.

Next I was a secretary at a funeral home. It was enjoyable, but I don't deal very well with death. I'm also not an outgoing person, and I found it hard to find the right words to comfort grieving families.

Then one day I saw an ad in the paper about court reporting school. I read it and knew it was for me. I enrolled the next week, and two years later I was a bona fide court reporter. I'm somewhere different nearly every day, so I don't feel like I'm in prison. (Although I do go there on occasion) It's the perfect job for me because I don't have to talk, only listen. It's really an introvert's dream job.

You're probably wondering where writing fits into the grand scheme of my life by now.

Well, I've always loved writing. I was a very quiet child, and I didn't communicate with others well. I was always a better listener than I was a talker.

Writing allowed me to put what I wanted to say on paper to convey my thoughts. Writing essays in school? Well, that was one of my favorite assignments. My friends thought I was nuts.

One teacher in particular, a Ms. Holder, though, saw that I had potential. She encouraged me to write and believed in me. She even gave me three journals one year for Christmas. Inside she wrote a little note that read basically that she wanted a copy of my first book when it was published.

Unfortunately, there's no book. Yet. I have ideas, but I don't think my abilities are there yet to do a book justice. One day, though.

I've learned that online writing is challenging. SEO is Greek to me. It just takes the joy out of writing. I've made up my mind to just write about what makes me happy. Sometimes it's popular with others, sometimes it's not. But I've found that if I write about a topic because I feel I have to or it's what I think people will want to read, I do a poor job because my heart's just not in it.

I plan on continuing to write here at Wizzley. Right now I'm shooting for 100 pages so I can hit that last share raise. After that, I'll probably still be here. I love it here at Wizzley.

My long term writing goals are to make a decent living writing online and write a book about my father's childhood.

For the short term, I'm going to be focusing on writing the best article I can each and every time I press the publish button.