The HEA Cafe

I’m not a reality show fan.  I’ll watch Survivor, but that’s about it.  However, this summer my husband is working a good bit of overtime and I’ve was looking for a little light entertainment.  I’ve been a dancer most of my life, so I thought I’d take a chance on a show called ‘So You Think You Can Dance’.  I confess – I got hooked.  But what does this have to do with writing?

Plenty.

My favorite couple on the show was Joshua and Katie.  Week after week, they came out and danced from the heart, holding nothing back.  Their talent and love of the art was breathtaking.  Katie almost didn’t make the top twenty dancers, however.  When it came down to the last girl’s spot, it was between her and her best friend, Natalie.  The judges asked both girls to come onto the stage for the announcement.  Before the judges told who they’d picked, though, one judge asked both girls that if they didn’t make it would they try again the next year.  Katie said no.  Turns out she’d barely missed the top twenty the previous year and the emotional toll, at that time, seemed to be too much.  Her answer displeased the one judge so much he asked for a recount.  The judges sent the girls out and debated once again who should be picked.  Katie squeaked by on one vote but the decision could have easily gone the other way.

Katie’s self-doubt almost cost her a spot on the show and could have even ended her career if she’d given up dance after once again losing a top twenty slot.  Time and time again, I’ve seen the same thing happen to writers.  They get a bad critique or review.  Rejection letter after rejection letter arrives in the mail.  Your family starts to question whether the sacrifice is worth it.  YOU start to question whether the effort is worth it.  Why ripe your heart out and lay it on the page if no one else cares?

Because you must.  I believe we wouldn’t be given the desire, a desire strong enough to make us sacrifice sleep, television, free time, to write if we didn’t have the talent buried within to succeed.  We just have to dig deep enough to find it.  How do we do that?  We write.  Over and over again until we get it right.  The great critique, the acceptance level, the glowing review.  The feeling inside when you read the words you’ve written and thought “I can’t believe I wrote something that good.”

Don’t give up.  Don’t become your own worst enemy.  Believe in yourself and keep writing.  I believe Katie’s going to become a star.  You can too.