Encouragement for Writers

How many years have you been writing? Are you the same writer today than you were the first time you created a piece of real writing? Have your feet been set in cement, or have you moved along the writing journey one step at a time, gathering the good bits and pieces as you go?

Every now and then, it's helpful to take a look back at that long road that has been your writing journey. Do you remember the first time you submitted your work to an editor? Was it scary? Is it more comfortable to do so now, or is it still unsettling each time you make a submission? I hope you have mastered the art of submitting, waiting, and then either rejoicing or handling rejection, whichever it may be. 

There is another saying that tells us not to bother to look back. It's Don't look back. That's not where you are going. Good advice in some respects, but doing what today's quote tells us is also good advice. It's quite beneficial for us to see the road between beginning and present to see what we have learned and what we have achieved. 

As for being proud of what you have achieved, I fully agree with that. We know better than anyone else how much it took to garner those achievements. They were not pebbles on a beach that we collected as we strolled along the sand. We worked hard to gather those rewards, the publications, the contest winners, the invitations to share our writing expertise with others. The one thing we don't ever want to be as a writer is 'stagnant.'

When you look back at your writing journey, you'll see the parts that shine and those that are riddled with bumps. It's only natural to have some of both. As you traveled across those bumps, you learned something, and you grew as a writer. 

If we do all we can to grow as writers, we're going to have more achievements. Our list of good things should grow longer and stronger as time moves on. That is if we do all we can to continue to grow in our writing life. We need to read about writing, go to conferences, join critique groups, and submit our work to editors. If all you do is sit at your computer and write one story after another but do nothing with those stories, you'll have few real achievements to list. Writing itself is our base, and from that base, we need to branch out and to learn.

Take a look back today at the writer you were in the very beginning, then the one you are today. Be proud and be ready to keep growing as a writer.