HOW DID I GET HERE?

It is January, 2014, and I record in my daily journal four goals I want to achieve this year:

Make hay while the sun shines
Make more friends
Make money from my writing
Make more professional connections through social media.  Learn how.

Nowhere in that list (or in my head) does the idea occur of running blue for the House of Representatives in the red state of Montana.  It just appears out of the blue, so to speak.  But it doesn't really because I've planted the seed with my goal-setting.  A willingness to take risks seems to accompany that exercise.

I believe that the Letter to the Editor, November, 2013, (in the previous post) is what brings attention to my name.  On a Friday night in early March, as the filing-for-office deadline draws near, my phone rings.  Before I can hang up, the request for putting my name on the November ballot comes through.  I am taken aback.  "I will think about it," I stutter.  Another phone call on Monday from the Field Director, Montana Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, seals the decision; my name on the ballot will allow Democrats to vote for another Democrat.  Because my district is not competitive, I am not expected to win and can do as little or as much campaigning as I wish.

My campaign strategy is simple:
-Research
-Write (especially Letters to the Editor), maybe create a blog
-Answer questions

It's one of the first pieces of official-looking mail that almost drives me to withdraw.  (More later)