My mom recently told me she thought I’d lost my ambition. Her comment stung. I know she didn’t mean for it to; it was just her observation. It had me thinking, though: Was my ambition gone? I was super ambitious in high school. Geek confession: I retook Algebra 2 during summer school just to change a B to an A and preserve my perfect GPA, which was later ruined by AP Biology. Ah well. I learned my lesson and let go of some of that need for perfection in college…until I graduated and jumped head first into a New York City-based publishing career. But then life happened and I moved back to my hometown – where publishing jobs were very limited – got married and settled down, even though I hadn’t planned to stay for long. A decade later, my roots are planted pretty deep. And yet, I’ve still managed to pursue my dreams: I earned a Master’s degree in writing, I found a job in publishing, and my husband and I started a family. There are still dreams I have yet to fulfill: to travel … [Read more...]