Over guffaws of laughter from her brother and between my own bursts of chuckling, I corrected her spelling. A grin split her face as she finally understood the irony of the statement she had just made.
For me, writing has been one of the most humbling facets of my life. I have cringed through not just one or a few but many instances of rejection, judgement, correction, insinuation, inscrutable silence, and my own slicing awareness. It seems nearly every time I pick up a pen or click on my computer, something happens to remind me that I am certainly not the cat’s meow when it comes to my writing endeavours.
I have presented different responses to that humbling: Grit-teethed determination to “just keep on;” bewilderment; pain; discouragement; near despair (when I decided I would symbolically bury the corpse of my writing dream and never return to it again. Obviously, I dug said corpse up again.)
But I hope my responses are becoming more consistently like the one my daughter gave to the correction about her “jenius” remark. Sheepishly grinning in realization as I sincerely consider what I need to change, I then bravely take another step forward – until the next time.
Michelle and her family enjoy hiking mountains and trails together. She is currently sharing a series called, What Growing Up in a Mennonite Family of 10 Taught Me About Survival.
Dear Michelle, I love your choice of attitude to take concerning the humbling side of the writing life. Persistance. It pays off. It's the main difference between those who get published and those who don't.
ReplyDeleteThumbs up to your daughter too. Writers often need to laugh at themselves. (I sure do...)
Thank you for this.
Blessings.
Hi Wendy, Thanks for your encouraging response. I agree that we need to laugh often at ourselves as writers. First, it makes the journey more pleasant. Second, it sure beats crying or allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by discouragement.
DeleteThis last phrase says it all: "I then bravely take another step forward
ReplyDelete." We all face discouragement and feelings of inadequacy, especially when it comes to writing, but "grinning' and =carrying on are the only real responses. (As you pointed out - even burying the corpse doesn't end it if one has the writing gene!)
Thanks for your reminder that we all face discouragement and feelings of inadequacy as writing. It helps me to know I am not alone - and to remember that if others are carrying on despite these feelings and self doubts, I can too.
DeleteGrrr! I see that I wrote "writing" when I should have written "writers!" I am reminded once again of my flaws! I clearly didn't take the time recheck my comment before hitting publish.
DeleteThanks, Michelle. What a wonderful reminder to always embrace a teachable spirit and to extend grace to others and to ourselves as imperfect vessels.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sharon. You drew out the essence of what I was trying to say - embracing a teachable spirit and extending grace to ourselves and others as imperfect vessels. That is beautifully put. Thank you.
DeleteMichelle, thank you for your transparency and sense of vulnerability in this message. Keep going, keep writing, one letter, one word, one paragraph, one story, i front of the other. We are getting to know you through your posts and like what we see. You can do this. God has given you a message and we can't wait to see where your writing goes. Blessings to you and your dear family, Michelle.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the encouragement Alan. It makes my heart full.
DeleteThanks, Michelle, for your encouragement to laugh and enjoy the writing journey, despite sometimes wanting to bury our "corpses". It's so important to then "bravely take another step forward".
ReplyDeleteThank you Sandi. It seems those of us who have been given this passion for writing - and who keep looking to the Lord to guide us - just can't give up on our writing, no matter how much failure smacks us down. At least, that's been my experience.
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