#35 Days of Dares #16 Dare to Remember and Honour
If you have a candle, the light won’t glow any dimmer if I light yours off of mine. Steven Tyler
I think it’s important to live a life that is not only glorifying your own efforts, but to build others up, and in the process to remember and honour those who have contributed to your success.
The family and friends who have sown into your life.
The work colleagues who share the load.
The creative people who inspire you to create.
The trailblazers who have gone before.
The ones who sacrificed so we could have freedom and choices.
Writing is a solitary activity involving a lot of hours working on a key board or in a notebook, however, to produce an end product there’s a process that takes a team of people.
My journey to becoming a writer began as a small child. My mum bought me Golden Books every week and my dad read them to me every night. I could read before I went to school and always loved books.
I loved writing at school and had primary teachers who encouraged me.
In high school I loved reading books, analysing them and writing about them. Reading poetry, short stories, stage plays and novels for study excited me.
At university I studied Literature and Creative Writing and I loved learning to teach others. My writing was judged as pedestrian by my famous tutor.
I put writing aside and taught others.
I was part of a creative arts team and began writing scripts, articles and being inspired by the artists artists around me.
My friends began to encourage me to write.
My family believed I could.
I wrote a book.
I worked with designers, printers, a photographer (my husband!), an editor, a typist, a distributor —a whole team of people and my first book was launched into the world.
I wrote another book.
I decided to write fiction. I wrote a novel. I sat with an editor. She told me it needed work.
I rewrote.
I took my novel to an agent.
It still wasn’t ready.
I took writing classes, swapping the role of the teacher for student.
I found a critique partner.
I wrote some more.
Now I’ve written two novels.
Today, I’m writing a different kind of novel and I’m looking for fresh input.
When that book is published, I’ll look back and remember all the people who were with me on the journey.
All the people who contributed so that my books can be the best they can be. The people who worked with me.
I’ll honour and remember them.
In every area of our lives there are people who we need to remember. Our success is their success.
We don’t live or work in a vacuum. I’m the one who has to glue my bottom to the seat and write,
but without those early Golden Books, without all that reading on my father’s knee,
without all the into my education,
without the people who told me my work wasn’t good enough,
I may not have written my books.
Every time you succeed, share the love around. Dare to Remember and Honour.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou
#365adventure is a book lover’s year of adventures. Adventures in travel, friendship, family, soul, heart and, of course, book stores!
