A Few Updates (2/3/24)
Hey all, it’s me again.
Nic… it’s… it’s Nic…
Look, on the last post I said I was going to stop introducing myself but it’s weird, alright? I can’t shake the feeling I have to say my name. Okay, moving on.
No real progress has been made since the last post, nothing concrete, anyway. I’ve sent The Mountain King (or TMK from here on out) to a few publishers, but it’s way too soon to hear back from them. I do however have something exciting to look forward to, a new event! I’m heading to something called Write or Die, it’s a critique group that meets on… I don’t remember when they meet but they do. I think it’s Tuesday? I don’t know, I wrote it down somewhere. Anywho, I’m excited. I think getting professional feedback from professional writer dudes would be very helpful. I’m going in confident, too. Which is strange for me. I recently listened to a podcast where an actor talked about his confidence in his craft. He said that at a certain point in his education he stopped listening to the acting advice and just decided to do what made him happy. Realizing that he and fellow students were just modifying their acting to appease the teachers, to get their approval. He commented that because of his upbringing, which was full of love and approval, he didn’t need that from the teachers. It was super interesting, and cool to hear him attribute at least some of his success to that.
I wasn’t kidding, I’m going to keep using random stock images until I run out. Does this Sun have anything to do with what I’m talking about? No. That’s why it’s funny. Random stock image tally: 4.
As someone who has, ahem, remarkable issues when it comes to seeking love and approval externally, that was important to hear. So I know now, going into these events hosted by people with far more experience and knowledge than I could dare hope for, that I should take what they say with a grain of salt. Not to say that I can’t take constructive criticism or that I’m going in with my walls up. But I will have a modicum of wary, I will fight for what I think is right. If they think something I did is wrong and they make sense, good. If they don’t like the story for some strange reason I can’t fathom? Then fine, but I’m not ingesting that, I know what I write is good, it’s just about finding an audience and a way to reach that audience. So many words to say, I won’t go in seeking their love and approval. I don’t need that. This thing I do, this writing. From TMK to the trilogy to any short stories, all of it. What I do, what I’m pursuing, what I love… the writing, it may be the only aspect of my life that has absolute love and approval from the unlikeliest of sources: myself.
I believe I can do this. I have a good head on my shoulders, for the most part, and because of that I know that this is possible. I just have to keep fighting. It’s not going to be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is. What I do matters, it makes me feel good and I enjoy doing it. I guess, if there’s an actual purpose to this post, it would be to inspire the four people reading this. What are you passionate about? What do you like to do? What do you enjoy? Too often do we become complacent in life. I’m a twenty five year old kid who has no earthly idea what the fuck he is doing, but I’m doing it because it matters to me and I think I can do it. So, what do you do? I’m here to tell you it matters. What you do matters. I don’t care who says what, I don’t care what you’re into. You want to paint? Go paint. You want to act? Go act. You want to build bikes? Go build bikes. You want to draw pictures of abstract elephants? Draw some abstract elephants. You want to rob a bank? Don’t… don’t do that. Nothing illegal or immoral here people, let’s not be animals. What I’m trying to say is don’t suppress what makes you happy, engage with it. Just do it. Life is too short to waste it away doing everyone else’s bidding. DO what YOU want. It matters, you matter, and so does your aspirations. Not perspirations, that’s gross.
Okay, good talk. I’ll be back at some point with the next entry in my captain’s log.
See you next time, dorks.
