And I deleted my post.
Not completely. I sent it over to my family blog. But I decided it wasn't good enough to be around such amazing authors. It didn't fit the mold.
Too often we second guess ourselves. We look at everyone else and see what they've done and decide that ours just doesn't add up.
And the mold? The mold is all a joke. Yes, we need to have our books edited and have them look good. Yes, we should make them the best they can be. But that's where the mold ends.
There are millions of story ideas out there. Mine are going to be different than yours. That's the joy of being human. We all have likes and dislikes. My favorite book is something that someone else might think was awful. That's okay!
While taking a class on making our own brand, I was stuck. I kept feeling like I was a failure because I couldn't find that perfect image that would say who I am. I couldn't come up with ideas for how to explain what I write or what I do. But that's not true. I know what I write. I know that I write strong families. I know that I write about overcoming trials and being much stronger because of them. Just because I couldn't verbalize those ideas doesn't mean I don't know what I can do.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses. We need to stop comparing our weaknesses to other people's strengths and realize that we are awesome as we are.
Write that book. Be that mommy. Teach that lesson. Be who you are because no one else can be. If you're quirky, awesome. Welcome to the club!
I fully believe that we as writers are hard on ourselves to keep us humble. It means that we will work just a little harder, edit just a little more, and do the very best we can so that we will put forth our best work. And if we do all that, we are good enough.
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