by Kevin Scott Collier
Entry-level writers email me often with an impatient if not desperate demeanor. They are not angry: they seem afraid. Their struggle is awash in what other writers have told them. They glean from those missives messages of a long, hard and ever escalating road of impossible proportions. Despair taints them. Soon, this new writer is trapped in a struggle with himself.
I have always been a defiant sort. I do not like to be told “no” when it comes to opportunity. It’s not arrogance that drives me: it is desire. When you desire something strongly enough you make every step count on the pathway. The bridge between a dream and success is yours to build. Its strength will derive from you.
When I was boy I had a learning disorder that propelled me into years of therapy classes after school. Classes I was ashamed of and did not wish to ever have disclosed to friends. The fear then was of being branded “stupid.”
I was told I would never grasp continuity to become a writer and my coordination skills were compromised to a point where doctors told me my dream of being an artist would likely never come to pass. An art teacher even admonished me in class telling me I would "never amount to anything in life." But, I refused to fear. Desire gripped me and I began to crawl a figurative mountain where I knew opportunity was waiting at the crest.
It didn’t matter if the person beside me climbed faster and reached the top first. The opportunity that awaited me was not for another’s taking. It was called my niche. I would find it there waiting for me.
When I reached the top of that mountain in my teens I held my niche in hand and made a fist around it. I would never relinquish it. I would guard it always. Opportunity knocked for me. Soon, the knocking came more frequently. And I know why.
I believed in myself when no one else did. When one begins to believe in failure I believe that failure will begin in you. In literature the word “failure” seems to have greater impact than “desire.” Failure is defeat, whereas desire does not guarantee success. Success begins as a seed planted from desire. Without desire, you will never experience success.
Granted, if you don’t possess the skills that make a good writer, creativity and imagination, perhaps your niche isn’t literature. But if you know you are good, worthy and have desire, cast out fear and keep climbing that mountain. Something awaits you at the top not for another’s taking. I guarantee it.
I have always been a defiant sort. I do not like to be told “no” when it comes to opportunity. It’s not arrogance that drives me: it is desire. When you desire something strongly enough you make every step count on the pathway. The bridge between a dream and success is yours to build. Its strength will derive from you.
When I was boy I had a learning disorder that propelled me into years of therapy classes after school. Classes I was ashamed of and did not wish to ever have disclosed to friends. The fear then was of being branded “stupid.”
I was told I would never grasp continuity to become a writer and my coordination skills were compromised to a point where doctors told me my dream of being an artist would likely never come to pass. An art teacher even admonished me in class telling me I would "never amount to anything in life." But, I refused to fear. Desire gripped me and I began to crawl a figurative mountain where I knew opportunity was waiting at the crest.
It didn’t matter if the person beside me climbed faster and reached the top first. The opportunity that awaited me was not for another’s taking. It was called my niche. I would find it there waiting for me.
When I reached the top of that mountain in my teens I held my niche in hand and made a fist around it. I would never relinquish it. I would guard it always. Opportunity knocked for me. Soon, the knocking came more frequently. And I know why.
I believed in myself when no one else did. When one begins to believe in failure I believe that failure will begin in you. In literature the word “failure” seems to have greater impact than “desire.” Failure is defeat, whereas desire does not guarantee success. Success begins as a seed planted from desire. Without desire, you will never experience success.
Granted, if you don’t possess the skills that make a good writer, creativity and imagination, perhaps your niche isn’t literature. But if you know you are good, worthy and have desire, cast out fear and keep climbing that mountain. Something awaits you at the top not for another’s taking. I guarantee it.
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