The Writer’s Journey

Last summer, I attended a writers support group and heard a successful author say, “We writers are always in turmoil and chaos inside.”

Almost a year later, the lessons I learned that day still ring clear.

Writers are faced with a daunting task – the weight of the world in our pencils. Sometimes my head is a swirling vortex of ideas, sometimes it’s filled with deafening silence. It’s easy to get discouraged from rejection or overwhelmed with how far I still have to go. Sometimes it feels easier to go a different route where processing, editing, formatting, and submission guidelines aren’t so crucial or to wait until I’m older, more experienced, more educated.

But then I remember – more than the technicalities, more than the frustration, the rejection emails, the writer’s blog – I remember the thrill of a carefully crafted sentence, of a vivid scene. I remember how I live out the experiences with my characters as they become a part of my life. At the end of the story, I look back on their journey, which has become my journey as well.

I am a storyteller. No critics, no lost contests, no rejection can take that away – and every struggle I overcome is a part of my Writer’s Journey.