A couple weeks ago, I went to a travel writing workshop after work. The instructor lead us through a few questions at the beginning to shake the dust from our day jobs. We ultimately wrote short travel pieces and shared them amongst ourselves and with the group. It was a wonderful experience and something I am certain I need more of in my life.
Of the initial questions that were asked, one was “what would you do if you had published a piece that you were really proud and you shared it with all of your friends and family and none of them seemed all that interested?” My first thought was: well, my mom has read every single Smile Project blog since it began – so this is improbable. Of course, she would read it and be thrilled for me! My second thought, in the spirit of the question was that I wouldn’t really care too much. In so many ways, writing is a very personal thing. Should something not be well received by my friends or family, I think I might be a little bummed, but overall, not too perturbed.
The next question was “what if the publication liked your piece so much that they asked you to do a whole series of pieces like it?” I found myself hysterically grinning from my corner barstool. I would freak out in the best possible way. I would cry. Scratch that, I would weep. The idea of having the opportunity to write more and more and make a life from it? I knew I was snowballing now, but the idea was addicting. I scribbled something in my notebook about how happy I would be.
The rest of the workshop went on and at the end we were asked to write about what our biggest takeaway was.
I flipped a few pages back in my notebook – the notebook with the compass on the front and my dreams in the spine. I wrote, what would it look like to try?
If I wrote something and got rejected or even if something got accepted but nobody cared, I might be kind of “blah” about it, but at the end of the day, I’d be fine. But if I wrote something and could mold it into something more, well that would be the best moment of my life.
So if those are the extremes – the worst case scenario being a little healthy rejection and the best case scenario being my childhood dreams coming to fruition then what am I waiting for?
Truly, what would it look like to try, to put myself out there, to unabashedly go for it. What does that look like in your life?
Love always,
Liz
