Stepping out of my comfort zone

So I've spent the day sort of ruminating about what to do, what to do, oh what to do. I'm still rather new to this freelance writing business and so I feel like I'm learning something all the time. I've been reading some great blog postings from other writers and websites and sometime it feels like information overload! :P But I try to take it piece by piece, and what struck me is that I've become comfortable in my little 'routine' so to speak. I was going about my days working off of the same pool of assignments and clients and never really looked to branch out. In the back of my mind I knew that when I envisioned what I wanted my writing career to be I hoped to have achieved more, but I was solely focused on the here and now. I didn't want to go outside of my comfort zone and then query around to other opportunities and instead just kept doing the same old thing. I was afraid to take time out of making a profit right then and didn't want to then sacrifice that time to hopefully invest in the future.

But the truth is, if you stick to the same old routine forever in anything, how can you expect to get better or get somewhere you want. That's exactly how people can spend years and years stuck in a cubicle or behind a counter; they go in with the thoughts that it's short term and they'll work their way up but are too afraid to make the leap. Or, they don't know how. I think I'm guilty of both; I was afraid to go out on a limb because 1) I could fail and then I wouldn't have achieved anything, never gotten the job, and then would be in the same place but worse for wear in that I'd wasted time and hadn't been working and 2) I just didn't know how to do it, where to query, what the process was, etc.

Yet I'll never do anything, or learn how if I don't at least try. It's a lot to learn and pick up on, but I know if I want to get to where I hope to be I better get cracking. It's a tough road getting into freelance writing and a lot of it is contacts and people you know. But at the same time, if you want something bad enough, you've got to work for it. So I've been reading and taking the advice of others who have achieved things I hope to one day and soaking up all I can. And since I sometimes feel like I have a billion ideas floating around in my head and then lose focus, I've made a list of goals:

1. Get into print magazines
2. Get higher paying online jobs
3. Find a literary agent
4. Figure out what I'm doing with my art
5. Build up my blogs; this one and Fitness Stop

Like I said, today I'm on almost information overload, but little by little stuff will seep in and hopefully in time I will get closer to achieving what I hope to.