No, I’m not about to go full Julie Andrews and bust out a rendition of “Do-Re-Mi”, but everything has a beginning, and this is mine.
Sure, it’s the beginning of a blog, but it’s also the beginning of something so much more.
I started on this author journey over ten years ago. Yes, ten! It was right after college, and I had moved to a completely new city and state. Armed with a remote job and a coffee shop obsession, I found myself with a lot of free time and a story in my mind.
It happened almost randomly. No thought was given to what this would become. I put my fingers on my keyboard and began to write. No research. No plan. No outline.
That book doesn’t exist anymore. Well, not in its entirety, anyway. But a version of that story has evolved (thankfully) into what will be my first self-published book. Eek! My heart does a flip even typing those words.
But if I’ve been writing this book for ten years, how am I possibly still at the beginning? You can credit that to a severe case of imposter syndrome, a brain that never stops thinking of worst-case scenarios, and time, which, as they say, is a thief.
But part of me is thankful that I’ve waited because in these ten years I’ve grown as a writer and also in the skills that will (hopefully) help me succeed in the self-publishing world. More to come on that, so be sure to subscribe to keep up with all my future blogs.
Writing is the easy part. It’s everything else that’s hard. It’s a grind: the editing, the revising, the editing again, the finding a designer for a book cover, the research into self-publishing techniques. Should I go wide? What does that even mean? Do I need to have a TikTok when everything inside me revolts against social media?
Then there’s the doubt that creeps in.
Am I good enough? Will people even want to read what I have written? Will they laugh at my writing style? Will they hate my characters? Or worse, will no one ever read it at all?
Maybe that last part, the never sharing my story with the world, is the thing I fear the most. Because it means the dream I’ve had of publishing a book never came to fruition.
So, putting fear aside, I step into the tenth year of this journey with only one word on my mind. Courage.
Courage to take a chance on myself. Courage to put myself out there, even if it means receiving some negativity. Courage to tell a story that I think people need to hear.
I stand here at the beginning, courage in my heart, family in my corner, and a big God that I know will carry me through no matter where this path leads. If it leads where I’m hoping it does, then this is the start of something pretty spectacular. And if heads in a different direction, then this is the beginning of something greater that God has planned for me.
I leave you with this challenge. What are you at the beginning of? It could be a new season in life. A new job. A new relationship. A new hobby. Maybe you don’t feel like you’re at the start of something new, but you’re craving newness all the same.
I pray that reading this has allowed you to step into your new beginning with courage on your heart.
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