encouragement
No one can hold you back except for yourself
So it’s 12:53am and I’m still awake. Which kinda sucks seeing as I do have to get up and go to work (the day job) tomorrow. So I took another half a tablet of melatonin and took a long hot shower. I was thinking while I was in the shower. I was thinking to about a year ago when I had started heavily writing again and was trying to find my way as a writer again. I decided I wanted to go to a writer’s conference only I didn’t know where the nearest one was or how expensive it would be. So I googled Oregon and writers conference and that is how I found the Willamette Writers ( A wonderful organization). I was talking to a good friend of mine about it, his name is Fred. He offered to pay for me to go to the conference and I could pay him back. Which he did and I am doing. That evening one of things he said to me as stuck with me and I remember it over and over again. I had been talking about my dream of being published and he looked at me and said, “Really the only thing holding you back is you.” I blinked at him several times, momentarily speechless. He was absolutely right. So that moment came back to me tonight. You see I have received several rejections and have been a little (yes only a little) down about it. But I figured my match was out there somewhere and it’s only a matter of time. I realized though, no one can hold me back. Not an agent who says no. Not an editor who doesn’t like me. Not a critic who hates my work. No one can hold me back except for myself. I don’t see any rejection as failure. If I were to quit now, that would be failure and that’s not something I am going to do. So if you are like me and still searching for your perfect match out in agent/editor land, don’t give up. No one can hold you back except for yourself.
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Personal Pick Me Ups…
I think that every person (writer or not) deals with days they are down, grouchy, cranky, and completely bitchy. It happens. It’s part of life. When I am in an exceptionally bad mood I can’t focus. Not on my writing. Not on cleaning the house. Not on anything. I’m not really good for anything but sulking.
However, one of the ways I have learned to combat this crankiness is to focus and think about things that make me happy. I also try and do things that I find relaxing (right now I’m listening to a brain sync meditation track by Kelly Howell–www.brainsync.com and I’m blogging.)
I journal. Regularly. On the back inside cover of my journal I’ve written notes to myself. Things like remember if you are bitchy then pause, breathe deeply, and imagine Pelegra. That almost always calms me down. I’ve written things I’m thankful for. I remind myself that writing is my dream and worth every second of effort. Most importantly I remind myself to believe. Believe in my dream. Believe in myself.
Anyway, so I suggest that you have a happy book–a small notebook with happy thoughts–or even just one page. something you can go to for a personal pick me up.
I’ve also taken to buying inspirational prints. Technically I think they are motivational prints and I realize that sounds cheesy but I really like the two that I have. One of them is of rings left in water after a drop has fallen and says “Serenity: the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” and the other one is of a dock looking across a body of water at a mountain and says “ambition: the world makes way for those who know where they are going.” Oddly enough I bought both of them at Blockbuster.
So when I am down I read my notes to myself and study my prints and they help me remember to keep working toward my goals and believe that I can accomplish them.