Miniature Mind Musings #7:

I'm honestly not sure when I 'gave myself permission' to be myself, as a writer, but I am more grateful than guavas and goji berries that I did.

It’s been a game-changer.

My priorities got easy since the pressure stayed permanently off. I think it’s justifiable to trace a good deal of that pressure back to socialization roots.

Yup, hellur hecks. Even in writerdom.

Caveat—Personal Sharing Readers May Find Displeasing, Inflammatory, Weird, or_____:

For the majority of my creative journey, I never felt the inclination to write a book.

It’s the go-to thing often brought up when you say those words, “I’m a writer.”

There’s a pre-approved societal template channeling your immense and overwhelming right-brain effervescence into an accepted, measurable, and worthwhile outcome. But I wanted to run away screaming when people said it and couldn’t figure out for the life of me why.

*Society: Success=measurable concrete productivity/product*

If you don’t know that I am a bona fide bibliophile/bookworm/booklover/book addict; then respectfully, you don’t know me at all.

Still, I chafe at the erroneous idea that “real writers” have to have a book to show for it.

Of absoluting-course, writing a book is a phenomenal accomplishment and something to be proud of!

But it does not relegate writers who haven’t or don’t wish to pursue that path, to non-phenomenal status. We come in all shapes and sizes (thank the Goddess) with trailblazing mojo to offer immeasurable gifts to the world.

Know what lit my fire of desire to pen something into actual digital/hardcopy literature?

Reading the works of writers that broke literary rules with their published works, “writin’-heart-throbbingly un-book-like.”

Close your eyes or skip ahead from here if you don’t want to peruse me "pom-pomming" some of my ‘tome faves,’ old and new like:

• Really important stuff my kids have taught me by Cynthia Copeland Lewis

• A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers by Xiaolu Guo

• Instant Karma by Barbara Ann Kipfer

• Who Runs The World by Virginia Bergin

• Kali Journal: Sadhana for Sacred Introversion by Alaina Fairchild

• Hey, Wake Up! by Sandra Boynton

• Mot A Mot: New Advanced French Vocabulary by Paul Humberstone

• The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

• 1001 Ridiculous Ways To Die by David Southwell & Matt Adams

• Good Knight Sleep Tight by David Melling

• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

• Human Body Hidden World by Claude Delafosse & Gallimard Jeunesse. Illustrated by Pierre-Marie Valat

Why yes, I do have some children’s books in there, soooo…slightly awkward fork in the road…if you don’t like children’s books, we prolly can’t be friends. Sorry.

There are of course LOADS of writers who love traditional routes and format and structure, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m simply not one of them. Doesn’t mean I won’t read and enjoy a “conventional format” book, (Grrrr, did I mention I hate labels?!) just means I probably won’t write one.

A mega-joyous nod to the innumerable authors who demonstrated this to me over the years!

And—Shhhhh! Confession: You know what juicy thoughts float my ‘writer-ambition’ boat even more than writing a non-conventional type of book?

• Winning a ‘writer in residence’ grant to some delightful foreign location where I get paid to live through all my glorious senses in luxury and write like there’s no tomorrow without interruptions. (Yes, I’m aware that requirements for these opportunities often include published fiction/nonfiction/poetry, literary awards, accolades, etc., but hey, whose juicy thoughts are these again?)

• Plotting ‘never-before-tried’ writer events that bring people from all walks of life together in harmony with 'booyah-fun' thrown in. (Hellur conscious bias and not giving a blessed eff, cuz nobody can throw down like writers throw down!)

• 'Organic writer networking' where I meet people serendipitously (like I did recently) who work in organizations that support and fund writers to do exciting ‘writer things.’ (“Woo!” and also “Hooooo!”)

• Utilising my writer skills to change-uplift-inspire across the globe in minutes versus the weeks and weeks+++ it would take for the completion of a book to do the same. (This happened again today and I’m still choking back tears.)

• Being able to look back on my life’s path and know without question that I lived all out authenticity to the nth degree. (Priceless.)

Me: See, ain’t it sweet relief to be your different blinging-self all up in this shizzay?!

You: You are just flippin’ weird.

Me: Yet you invested heavily and read all the way to the end. Admit it…you love me!

You: Yeah, alright-alright-alright! That too.

“Oooooh!” and “Aaaaaaaah!” moments…

I am very appreciative that you read this story! I put a great deal of effort and time into it, so that means so much to me. You are more than welcome to read more of my work below.

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