extremely good advice, especially if you know which dream to follow. As you said, we have so many dreams it would take four lifetimes to pursue them. I thought my dreams were dropping away as with each one I failed. One, being a writer, seemed to be nurtured by the course of my life. I wrote a novelette while on vacation with a friend, then handed it to my ninth grade teacher. She became a mentor. Classes in creative write didn't exist or I couldn't get into them, but a journalism class steered me, eventually into a job on a newspaper ... as the city desk secretary. Not a reporter. However, three years there honed my writing skills. Other crazy off-path things also contributed until I finally found a writers' group who helped me write and publish my first novel. From there, I found Substack. Now, at 75, I can say I reached my dream. But the practice, taking the opportunities when they came, and having the nerve to submit work were the necessary "sacrifices" to achive that dream. Even commenting on Facebook was practice for writing short stories. Thank you for this article, Alvaro.
What an inspiring story, Sue! Your journey makes it clear to me that perseverance and taking advantage of every opportunity can lead us to fulfill our dreams, even when the path isn't direct.
I'm glad to hear that you finally found the path to your passion for writing and that every experience, even the ones that seemed like detours, led you to where you wanted to go. What a great story and life!
Thank you, Alvaro. True, it's been an adventure. I hope other have similar experiences if they don't try to control it too much. Sometimes trying too hard to make something happen can frustrate rather accomplish anything.
extremely good advice, especially if you know which dream to follow. As you said, we have so many dreams it would take four lifetimes to pursue them. I thought my dreams were dropping away as with each one I failed. One, being a writer, seemed to be nurtured by the course of my life. I wrote a novelette while on vacation with a friend, then handed it to my ninth grade teacher. She became a mentor. Classes in creative write didn't exist or I couldn't get into them, but a journalism class steered me, eventually into a job on a newspaper ... as the city desk secretary. Not a reporter. However, three years there honed my writing skills. Other crazy off-path things also contributed until I finally found a writers' group who helped me write and publish my first novel. From there, I found Substack. Now, at 75, I can say I reached my dream. But the practice, taking the opportunities when they came, and having the nerve to submit work were the necessary "sacrifices" to achive that dream. Even commenting on Facebook was practice for writing short stories. Thank you for this article, Alvaro.
What an inspiring story, Sue! Your journey makes it clear to me that perseverance and taking advantage of every opportunity can lead us to fulfill our dreams, even when the path isn't direct.
I'm glad to hear that you finally found the path to your passion for writing and that every experience, even the ones that seemed like detours, led you to where you wanted to go. What a great story and life!
Thank you, Alvaro. True, it's been an adventure. I hope other have similar experiences if they don't try to control it too much. Sometimes trying too hard to make something happen can frustrate rather accomplish anything.
Yes, that can happen. Sometimes we focus so much on achieving something that we neglect other things and end up hurting rather than helping ourselves.