#VowToWrite

The past few days have been full of reflection for me. At the forefront of my mind has been one burning question:

When will I get serious enough about writing that I stop making excuses and fully embrace the talent the Universe has given me?

There, I said it:

I have talent…

These three words have been so hard to own.

My whole life, I have scoffed at compliments and the very idea that I might have an inkling of writing talent. Even as I finish writing a book and publish it on Amazon, a voice in the back of my head reminds me of how talentless I really am.

Yet, now I have three young teenagers examining their own value in this world. As I help them see their own talents and encourage them to be passionate about the gifts the Universe has bestowed upon them, I realize I need to “practice what I preach”.

I never really had anyone cheering me on when I was first discovering the joy of writing as a child, and it’s easy to use that fact as an excuse when things get hard. It’s definitely easier to tell myself that I’m not good enough, so “why bother?”. Then I can let myself off the hook when I don’t feel motivated to work on my writing projects. Finding excuses is so easy. Holding myself accountable and diligently honing my craft, however, takes commitment.

Therefore, I decided to find a way to hold myself accountable; to add a certain amount of pressure to myself in order to keep moving forward even when writer’s block and self-doubt are plaguing my mind.

Today, I make a Vow To Write. I’ll be using the hashtag #VowToWrite whenever I share news about the progress I’m making, and I’ll be encouraging other writers to make their own vows for their work as well.

A Vow To Write can be as simple as making a mental note about a change you want to make to your story, or writing down an idea for a poem. It can be as complex as setting a 10,000 words a day goal. It’s whatever you, as a writer, believe you need in order to stay motivated and to embrace the talent you were born with.

If you’ve ever felt there is a poet or story teller buried deep inside you, you owe it to yourself to make the Vow To Write. Develop your talent and share it with the world. You never know who might need to hear the words that are forming into stories in your mind. Make the Vow…