Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Affirmation

Martina Boone, at  Adventures in YA publishing, issued the following affirmation challenge:
I would love it if you would let me be a small part of having you achieve the impossible by affirming your dream aloud. Yes, I think that's important. Affirmations. Repeating a thing until it becomes true for ourselves is part of the magic of creation, and finding the courage to live and take chances is one of the themes in the book.
And she's included some great giveaway opportunities for those who participate in the challenge, so check it out!

I have to admit that I find this affirmation slightly terrifying. I don't know why. My family has known I wanted to write since I inflicted a horrible novella on them in junior high. Maybe before then (there was also that dramatic play I wrote and then forced my siblings to act when I was about 11).

But somehow admitting publicly feels risky--even fraudulent. Sometimes I feel like I'm a living cliche: the aspiring writer. Worse, the English professor who aspires to write, because don't nearly all of us?

Maybe I am a fraud. Worse, maybe I'm a hack. It doesn't matter. I want to write. More than that, I want to put a story in front of readers that I can be proud of. I don't know yet exactly what form that will take, though I'm currently hoping for traditional publishing.

So here's my affirmation, my public avowal of my private aspirations. 

2 comments:

  1. This is a great idea and a very important step to declare publicly your dream of publication. I'm rooting for you!

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  2. I can definitely relate to the feeling you're describing! ("Oh, there's ANOTHER wanna-be writer...") It took me years before I could confidently tell people I am a writer without qualifying myself or my abilities. I can't wait for the day I can tell people I am a *published* writer, though! (as in, book published, not just short story/ blog published) Good luck with your journey!!

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