Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Shine On, People. Shine On.

Many of us are gearing up for National Novel Writing Month. Some of us are throwing ourselves into November armed with scene cards and a caffeine IV drip. Some of us are winging it with a pen and a prayer. Maybe you're not participating in NaNo, but you're diving into a different project.

Wherever our creativity takes us the rest of this year, the rest of our lives, let's make sure we remember this quote from Nic Stone: 

"DON'T LET SOMEONE DIM YOUR LIGHT,
SIMPLY BECAUSE IT'S SHINING IN THEIR EYES.

NOT EVERYONE WILL BE SUPPORTIVE 
OF WHAT YOU'RE DOING.

SOME WILL BALK.

SOME WILL TELL YOU NOT TO WASTE
YOUR LIFE ON PIPE DREAMS.

SOME WILL TREAT YOUR DESIRE TO WRITE
LIKE IT'S NOTHING MORE THAN A HOBBY,
AND WILL JUDGE THE WAY YOU USE YOUR TIME.

KNOW THAT IT'S NOT YOU. IT'S THEM.

SHINE ON."

34 comments:

  1. Love that quote - great reminder to not take what people think too seriously and to keep shining on. Have fun with NaNoWriMo :-)

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    1. I love it, too - in general and for NaNo, when a lot of people just don't "get it."

      Thanks! :)

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  2. I think of everything, what hurts the most is when someone thinks your writing is just a hobby.

    When I got my first check, I made sure those people heard about it. :)

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    1. Especially when you've got the desire, the drive, the passion. It's kind of like someone throwing cold water on a flame. Even if they ultimately mean well, care about your future, etc. there are much better, more respectful and considerate ways to go about it.

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  3. LOL. I think I wrote the equivalent of NaNo during October in preparation for my blog tour. If you count emails on top of blog posts (all 80 written for the month--including my blogs posts), I'm probably pretty darn close to winning. =)

    Love the encouraging words.

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  4. Love that!

    I'm not officially signed up for NaNo, but I do plan to use the month to finish Disaster Crimes #4.

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  5. This is awesome, Madeline, and couldn't come at a better time. At the conference I just attended, I told a few people (including a NYC agent) about my upcoming plans to go full-time with fiction, and let's just say they thought I was completely insane. Not exactly comforting!

    I will be doing NaNo once again, hoping to complete a book that will be released in the spring. Yikes! Good luck. We'll root for each other again, I hope.

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    1. You have a plan - you're not winging it or anything. And if anyone can do it, you can!

      I'm always rooting for you, Holli! :)

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  6. What a wonderful message, but unfortunately, sometime I tell myself these negative things as well. Not a good habit.

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    1. I hear you! I often have to stop the negative self-talk as well.

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  7. Great quote! If we sat around waiting for outside validation for how we choose to spend our time... we'd never get anything done. Life's too short to worry about what other people think. Like Nike says, "Just do it!"

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    1. There's another saying I like - "What other people think of me is none of my business." :)

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  8. Thank you, Madeline. I'm going to need that advice when I show my critique group what I'm writing for NaNoWriMo. It's going to break all those rules we worked so hard to force on each other...

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  9. I needed this today. Thank you, my friend!!

    I hope you have a good Halloween :)

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