Sorry Michael, I kinda lied. There was a metric floating around in my brain. I was so disgusted with everything. Just feeling blue. Discouraged. That I said, in my head, once I reach one thousand followers, I’m done. Hanging up my pen. I was hovering around 990 at that point.
WordPress decided to update the status page and my followers plummeted to 973. I know what you’re thinking, it’s not about the followers, it’s about the work. And I agree. Please hear me out.
Many of you may have had this self debate; putting myself on a public forum was hard. My grammar is subpar. I write like I talk. Which isn’t eloquent. This I know. All of those negative thoughts and actual words came flooding back.
I cried out to God, “okay if this is you telling me not to give up, I will keep going.”
And I have kept going. Each one of you have encouraged me to keep doing what I love. And yes, I love it.
This morning I woke to a notification that I had a new person interested in what I write. I was at 1,019 followers because y’all like my work. There was no fanfare that I had passed a thousand followers. It was a quiet moment.
All of my books are self published on KDP. Just a few hugs. It was a quiet moment.
When my books were put in the library, there was a few “that’s cool.” It was a quiet moment.
No parades down Main Street. No big fancy stories in the paper. No pod cast invitations. No cakes or parties. Quiet moments.
I’m not looking for a pity party here. Or accolades. My goal here is to encourage you. Run to those quiet moments. Sitting in the middle of those quiet moments is God encouraging you. Surrounded by the storm of life, with arms wide open.
I have got a lot of support and love from my WordPress/Jetpack fellow authors. And I thank you for it. I would have hung up my pen long ago if not for you.
Recently, I published The Snake and The Rabbit; a piece of fan fiction based on Sherlock Holmes. Back (way back) I wrote a story about him not dying after The Final Problem. At that time, I was ignorant that there were more stories after this.
Because of this, I went and dug out a satchel from under my night stand; covered with 20 plus years of dust. It contained page after page of stories I had started; that with your indulgence, I will share.
Don’t give up on those quiet moments. Don’t let negative self talk and actual talk sabotage you. Words (sometimes the lack there of) really hurt and bring us to new lows. Keep pushing forward. Keep trying. Keep living for those quiet moments.
Poetry & More 