My talent is that I believe in myself so much, I will never quit.
— Unknown
I'm feeling blessed at the moment.
It's
Christmas Eve and I'm writing this newsletter, with a ginger wine in one hand and a smile on my face. I'm thankful for having you guys in my life. For just sticking around with me over 2017 thank you. I hopefully entertained you with my fiction and we learned from each other in my emails.. For that I'm truly grateful.
I've got a long way to go in regards to achieving my goals and aspirations but for the most part I'm living my dream - without the
millionaire lifestyle. That comes later.
All this could have ended up differently if not for one thing.
You got to believe, man and self-belief is the answer.
Self-belief is having a conviction that you are capable of becoming a better version of yourself and achieving your goals.
It's the only way. Nothing gets done without that spark of realisation that tells you creation is in your hands and only you can ignite it. I know this to be the
truth from hard won experience. I shudder to think what I'd be doing now if I wasn't forced to believe in myself. Maybe giving up wasn't an option? What would I do anyhow? Help someone else realise their dreams. That wasn't going to happen. I just couldn't bring myself to live my life like that but it was a close call. I almost gave it all up.
Almost.
In the early days of my writing career, I developed an unhealthy preoccupation with the opinion of publishers
on the merits of my work. I was younger and I was taking the Kool-aid that was being handed out by the big publishing houses. It seemed the majority of ethnic writers had no stories or we were simply not good enough to be published. It was disheartening knowing you had so much to offer but were being blocked by gatekeepers. When I got rejection after rejection, I started questioning what I was doing believing I could be an author. Reading saved me in a very profound way. The things with
books are they allow you to see into the mind of the author and make you understand one thing.
Someone, somewhere at some time in the history of humanity has been through the same struggles and challenges you have and they felt strongly enough about it to put pen to paper for the masses to learn from their experience.
And bwoy, did I learn.
Just that subtle shift made the difference for me.
