Can you remember the last time you were in the presence of a true storyteller? When we run into those people, at parties or as neighbors or in the next aisle over in the grocery store, we feel it. There’s a kind of magic in the way they set the stage for their yarn, color their characters, feed us details.
Last year I ran a contest about becoming a writer. I asked people to write their story about the moment when they knew they were a writer. The stories came in like a flood. It was amazing. The stories were motivating and inspiring.
But this year, I want you to take it one step further…
Okay, seriously, the first thing you need to do is step away from that thought, slowly. Go ahead, step away. It’s going to be okay. – I mean it. Really. It’s going to be okay.
Rejection is not deadly. It just feels that way. You’re a writer and if you, well, write and send your work out, you’re going to be rejected at some point. It won’t kill you, I promise. It will hurt like hell, but it won’t kill you.
Everyone has a story to tell, including you.
The dangerous part of writing and sharing our stories isn’t always the writing itself or even the story, it’s more about how it may affect others, and how they might react to it. It’s dangerous, because honesty always is.