Dear Readers,
Well, it certainly has been a little while! I have been quite busy with a number of big life changes: writing my capstone, moving away from college, and moving back home. It's been a roller coaster, but I now have a BFA in Creative Writing! So if you'd like to consider me a professional, please go right ahead (only kidding, I'm far from it. But I do love to talk creative writing with anyone and everyone!)
It is hard to sum up the four years I spent hunched over a computer, so I won't attempt it. But I do really want to share some words of wisdom my lovely professors passed on to me as I prepared to don my graduation cap. I was lucky enough to be taught by a great many talented and experienced people who spoke directly into the future I still nervously regard.
On a Zoom call with Liz Harmer, my worldbuilding professor, she passed on this simple mantra:
"Move towards the thing you love with faith and the determination to do a good job."
I jotted it down as soon as she said it and have looked at it many a time since. There is this whole concept of pursuing a career or achievement for fame and dramatic success, keeping that gilded image in your mind as you work. All we really need as we move forward is the belief that we've set our eyes on what we truly want and do our best.
That is all we can ask of ourselves at the end of the day. If we put our heart and soul into the work and life we've chosen, the work and life we love, then how could we not be inspired to do a good job? Please note that we don't have to do a perfect job, an award-winning job, or even an epic job.
James P. Blaylock, my capstone advisor and the grandfather of steampunk (a veritable celebrity!), shared something with me along the same lines. It was one simple word that he said was the key to finding success as a writer.
"Perseverance."
Of all the writers he used to know in his early days, he noted that he knew a very small handful who'd truly stuck with it. Many had turned to other careers and let their passions shift to the back burner, and then dwindle all together. So long as I kept at it, improvement was sure to follow. There would be a great many obstacles of course, but no amount of sheer skill or good luck will pull you over them. You could have all of the other pieces to the puzzle, but without that focus and will to keep going, none of it matters.
For the first time in a while, I am out in the real world, a writer unmoored to classes and assignments. It's freeing but also terrifying. If you're in a similar position as myself, just know that I feel your struggles and know what it's like to be faced with the mountain called Perseverance.
What I'm realizing is that moving towards what I love with faith and perseverance has to happen on the daily. It's weird, but I'm trying to make myself up a schedule, a rhythm of sorts to make sure that I'm staying in touch with this goal and thing I love. There is a mountain of advice on that subject, but I'm letting myself come up with what will work for me all on my own. Don't listen to what the greats say about how to persevere, or where, or how often– it's your journey. Put together the puzzle your way. Just don't forget to commit to it!
We may all be walking separate roads, but we can wave to each other when we meet up at forks in the road and remind each other not to give up. I'll see you there!
