A week or so ago, I received wonderful news; I learned that my best friend's husband was in remission from his leukemia. This was beyond wonderful news. Or great news. Or awesome news. This was, indeed, a major blessing, a miracle. He was only diagnosed this year, and his case was severely advanced. In fact, the prognosis wasn't a good one. When he went from 100% cancer to 6% cancer in the matter of five months, doctors were astounded; they brought in even more doctors to try to figure out how this could happen.
"We've never seen anything like this," a doctor said.
And my girlfriend and I could only laugh. We were pretty sure he hadn't. It was all the hand of God.
And when my girlfriend's hubby went from 6% to NOTHING two weeks later, they were stumped yet again.
As I talked on the phone with my girlfriend while she shared this wondrous news, this tickle raced up and down my spine, and I smiled, then nodded.
God had given me a message.
A message through my best friend's husband.
For last few weeks, I had slowly but surely gone into a depression, and just the day before my friend called, I had hit the stage of I CAN'T DO THIS. I felt like a failure with school, with everything in my life, and I just knew that everyone would eventually learn that I couldn't cut it.
And then I received this news from my friend.
Over the phone, I told her, "God just gave me a message through hubby. Surely, if God is great enough to heal him from cancer, he can do a work in me. My issues so pale in comparison."
This blessing that had rained upon my friend and her hubby, in effect, had rained down upon me, too, and almost instantly, I truly felt like I could do all things.
How does this apply to writing?
Here was my lesson learned: Sometimes, God gives you answers through the trials and triumphs of others. Be open. Watch intently. Listen closely.
You can use the trials and triumphs of writers before you to propel you forward. Through the various social networks I belong to, I spend a great deal of time listening to stories. Listening to those authors who submitted like crazy for years before getting their big break. I listen to the stories of those who managed to hit big on the very first try. I listen to those who hit it big then have their run well dry and have to try for yet another big break. These stories supply me with information. The what to dos, the what not to dos.
You can use the works of others to inspire your own work. I have a handful of authors that I truly love, and when a book of theirs drops, I buy it to see how their writing has changed-- if it's changed. I read to learn more - about the craft, about the author, about his/her technique, and how I might apply those things to my own writing.
You can join organizations that are a bit out of the ordinary to learn what's going on in that part of publishing. I watch to see what's going on African American fiction, but I also join more multicultural organizations, too, because I want to be mainstream, and I want to see what's being published or not being published on that front, too. I check out organizations based on various genres so I can see how sales are going within those genres, to learn of new sub-genres, and to find out which editors, agents might be looking for that type of material.
Every genre has its trailblazers, those that have made the way before us much smoother, who have knocked down walls and allowed space for us and our words. It's important for us to find these trailblazers, to learn of their journeys, and to delve deep within ourselves in order to discern how we can forge our own trails for others to follow.
You never know who can be the catalyst to help you to achieve your literary dream.
You never know how much you can that catalyst to help another achieve his or her literary dream.
Be open. Watch intently. Listen closely.
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