Going Outside of My Comfort Zone

I am no stranger to freelance writing. I've had writing jobs on and off since I was a teenager covering high school sports and school board meetings for the Times, a weekly newspaper in Wayne County.

That was the extent of my writing outside the beauty, green living, shopping genre. Those are the only topics I have actively written about and had published since I was 18.

You may not know this about me if you don't know me in person, but I am a huge baseball fan, specifically the New York Yankees. When I was in the hospital after having both of my boys, I was watching baseball from my hospital bed. I missed watching maybe 2 or 3 televised baseball games on the YES network (this is the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network) last season, only because they were day games and conflicted with something else.

I love watching baseball. I love discussing players and stats, speculation, and sharing my opinions on the Yankees in general. When I came across a sports blogging ad seeking bloggers to talk about New York sports teams, my interest was piqued to say the least.

I expressed my interest in the position and shared some writing samples. Of course you know what I write about, and it's not about sports. I was asked to email a sample article yesterday for the folks behind the scenes to review.

Truth be told, I have issues with stepping outside my comfort zone. I always worry I might fail or get a response like, "This mom who talks about shopping and lipstick thinks she can write about sports? Ha ha! LOSER!" This morning I was so excited to receive an email from Yankees Mix and I will be a regular blogger with another piece planned on Yankees pitching.

You can see my first column on the Yankees Mix site now.

Never be afraid of getting a "no" if it's something you really believe you'd enjoy doing...you just might hear a "yes" instead.