The writer is designed to create. In their lonely mind space ideas float in and out, some captured to paper or computer screen while others are lost, vanishing to the ether. Those ideas that do get turned into a story, poem or perhaps song are then hidden away from all until the writer plucks up sufficient courage to share and submit, following that begins the anxious wait. It is throughout this process and up to this point that the writer’s fragile ego is tested. Am I good enough? Have I hit the brief? Will other people understand and enjoy what I have written? All of these questions and many more plague the writer and make us wonder, will this be the one, that one piece that leads us down the path to success? All throughout this process, a lucky writer has a muse, or (an even luckier one) many sources of inspiration and support. For me, I have found over the years many forms of support and inspiration but I have only ever had one muse.
My angel, my wife of over eighteen years, is someone who has constantly stood by me as I have had knockback after knockback from the big-name publishers. Her amazing words of encouragement have bolstered my fragile ego and given me the courage to resubmit again and again. When I did venture (stumble) down the path of self-publishing it was my wife who bought the first copy of my first novel, the greatest Christmas present that I have ever received.
I share with this amazing woman my hopes and dreams, my plans, my failures, even the pie in the sky ideas that have no hope whatsoever. For everything she is there in my corner telling me to go for it, to try. We are a team, over the years together we have been each other’s number one fan and because of this, I have bravely submitted where alone I would have lacked the courage to try. I write, inspired by things I see, hear, remember, but without my muse, those ideas would be left to come and go. Thanks to my wife I am continuing to seek out those opportunities that will help us find financial freedom. We do not believe that my writing will make us rich, but there is a possibility that I can become known. It is my dream to get my name out there as a storyteller as far as a name can go
My wife encourages me to achieve that dream. She is there for me when I share with her every success; just the same she waits with open arms and a sympathetic ear when rejection comes. She is my greatest fan even though she has read-only very few of the stories and poems that I have written. I thankfully have others who are willing to cast a keen eye over multiple drafts as a story evolves. Others have joined my family of supporters as the years have gone on. My wife though can name herself my first fan, there from the beginning and I strongly believe that she will be there all the way to the very end. We are a team, and together we will be there for every high, low, and in between.
Thank you, my angel, my love, my wife. Thank you for all of your support and encouragement. I believe with utmost certainty that the fragile ego of this writer would severely lack the courage to write at all without you in my life. And for that, I am extremely grateful.
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