I fell in love again these last two weeks… With how much I and other writers and editors and agents and readers still love story. Forget the doom and gloom about book publishing. Forget closing book stores. Forget the social media hype that book promo, not the story, is what matters most to readers. Spend a few weeks surrounded by those whose business is bringing creative inspiration to life, to the page, and to the market, and you’ll fall in love again, too.
I’m always searching for the right stories, the right directions, the right voices to lose myself in. It’s easy to look around at the rabble and rubble of our business and wonder what the readers want, thinking they have the answers. And shouldn’t the industry professionals we look to to buy our books and get them to readers tell us where to put our energies next? Isn’t that the way it works?
Except writers create what readers read, and the beating heart of that story, that relationship, is an affair that the establishment might feed into, but it doesn’t control how and when the heart beats true. And that’s what I’ve felt non-stop for weeks now, thanks to the inspiration and energy and love for connecting with readers that fills me and my fellow writers. The truth behind this race we’re all running.
It’s too easy to forget where we started. What needing to express what’s inside can do to the mind, until you let it out. Where that release takes you once you get out of your story’s way. Once you let the love of creating rein.
Whatever we’re searching for in life, whatever our day jobs and responsibilities and family commitments, we’re all put on this earth to create something beautiful with our lives. We all have gifts that bring just a bit more light and understanding to the world. It’s a scary, vulnerable undertaking, breathing life into that kind of inspiration. And I just spent two weeks surrounded by brave artists who dare to create out loud, out in the world, so that others might see their dreams too.
I’ve fallen in love all over again with the strength and honesty and magnificence of writers. Thank God for them all, and for the readers that find our words take in our vision and fly…
You inspire me more than you know.
Tags: Anna DeStefano, anna’s world, creativity & inspiration
Awww – this post made my heart pitter patter, Anna. So true – I am so in love with stories these days. I did not realize the pleasure I was missing in my pre-writer days.
Hi Anna: I came away from the conference with the same lightness of being. I just want to create the best story I can right now, learn my craft, and enjoy the process of creating all over again. I gave myself permission to do just that this summer. I can wade back into the business end of the water after darling teen goes back to school. I know I have submissions to prepare for people who requested them, but I figure if I have to wait 10 months for them to respond to me, then a few more weeks on my end won’t make a difference either. I just want to write, be with writers, and learn about improving my writing. That’s it.
Thanks for echoing my own revelations!
Very inspiring. Lovely and very well said. Sometimes we need to just reconnect with creativity and the desire to write the stories that are within us.
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