Following a Dream With NaNoWriMo

I wrote my first short story/novella when I was 13 years old. It was a romance fantasy. My girl was part of a tribe living on an island in the Pacific. They were mermaids but they didn't look like fish. They could just swim as deep and as much as they wanted. Water was central to their existence, a window to their spirituality. My character's name was Cambria. I gave up after awhile, not believing much in my ability.

I am a tremendous self-doubter. I always hold back, and always doubt my own abilities, often to my own detriment. Had it not been for my mother, I would certainly be living a different life. She put the kibosh on one of my self-doubting moments, and thankfully I went on to a good job in the military, as opposed to a miserable one.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and I've decided a week late to get into it. I am having so much fun writing my novel. I don't care if I miss the deadline, although I will do my best to try. It has encouraged me to stop doubting my creativity, and just write. I was also inspired by Stephanie Meyer, the author of the Twilight books. I will never read Twilight, as I started with Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton, and can't quite do books dealing with teens. However, I like the idea that she sent 15 letters out. Five went unanswered, nine rejected and one was the golden ticket.

See I am sure that she felt her book was a fail and doubted herself up until she got that one letter that changed her life. Instead of focusing on the rejection, I should be focused on the action and let the dice roll where they may.

I also feel it's important because my characters are all black women who are making things happen. They aren't involved with thugs, or street drama. They are heroines in their own right, and I think we need to be represented positively too.

So if I make myself scarce around these parts, it's because of NaNoWrimo. I don't plan on being too scarce though.

Just follow your dreams at all times. Don't let the little hater tell you that you aren't (insert positive trait here) enough. Be like Nike, and just do it.

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