On the Bravery of Writers

I know I haven't posted in a while (and I know I haven't visited many blogs, which I am SO SORRY for. I'm coming for you guys and your awesome posts.)

But today I saw a competition and it's a great, full of YOU SEND US BOOK AND IF WE LIKE WE PUBLISH vibes. My first thought was I can't enter. My writing isn't good enough. My writing isn't ready yet. Give me a couple more months.

My second thought was SMALL PRINT! SMALL PRINT! WHERE'S THE SMALL PRINT! Is there a clause that says they're going to take my manuscript from me forever, have all the rights to every future book I shall ever publish, and that that they are going to eat my left hand?

THEN I thought why can't I just query the darned thing?

Which brought me back to MY BABY IS NOT READY.

And here's the thing: it will never be ready. At some point you'll have to acknowledge it's time to submit. Which lead me to work out something VERY important.

1) A publisher would never want to eat my left hand. The right hand is always more popular in modern day society (which is sad, considering I'm left handed.)

2) TO BE A WRITER, YOU MUST BE BRAVE.
  
You must not compare yourself to other writers. You must not run blind into every publishing opportunity that presents itself. At some point, you may find yourself straying from the "standard" path for writers.

THAT IS FINE. 

As a writer, you must let go of your insecurities that people will judge you because you went this way into publishing, instead of that way. Or that they'll judge you if your writing isn't award worthy.

Because as a writer, you just want to share your words with other people. (Of course, some choose writing as a career as a way to make money and earn a living, and not out of a love for writing.) But whatever.

I'm not very brave. It took me months to start up a twitter account because I was worried people would judge me for having a low amount of followers. Ditto my Facebook account, both private and personal.

BUT IN THE END I DID IT., and I realized what I'd been missing out on.

So take risks. Do new things. Or you'll never experience anything.

And don't tell me you're not brave. If you wrote a book, you're brave. You defied the stats which say no one ever finishes a book. If you want to get published, you're brave, because you're not paying attention to the odds.

So BE BRAVE, you lovely people. And thanks, for listening to someone who is really trying to practice what they say. And sorry for this really long post.  Thank you for reading.