Tough Love

"Have you read it yet?"

"Not yet."

Grrr, "why not?"

"Been busy."

Half an hour later, he comes back.

"Do you publish your first draft?"

Ouch. Words hurt. It does not matter who says it and how it is delivered.

The knee-jerk reaction is to deny it.

"No!"

"It reads like it. You need someone to check your grammar too."

Ouch. Double ouch.

"It is me. It does not need to be perfect. It is my style."

"It needs to read more professional."

"…but do you like the story?"

"You need to strip back."

Ouch. Double ouch. Ouch to the square root of ten.

"What do you mean?" I am getting even more agitated.

"Do not let the noise overshadow your voice."

I did not expect that from him. He has just elevated a casual conversation into a discussion on a completely different level.

If you want to go far, surround yourself with people who are honest with you with their opinions. Someone who does not mince their words. Someone who is not afraid of offending you by telling you what they genuinely think. This is tough love.

Criticism is hard to swallow. I have always hated criticism. I even see other people's advice as criticism – I am self-absorbed like this. Mum said I never listen. Inevitably, I pay for my inability to take note of other people's advice over the years. When it comes to writing, the criticism is personal. It is an attack on you. Now I am older and not necessarily wiser, I have learned to appreciate his candidness and courage to speak the truth. To be successful is to own the journey – including the criticisms that come with it.

I was told no one reads anymore. You are wasting your time and effort on writing stories. I believe people do read, but the format has changed. Long gone are pages and pages of stories. If you look at the people, young, old, male, female, white, brown, yellow, black; in the underground, on trains, on buses, on ferries, everywhere you go, you see most people are on their phones. They are reading something. I hope that something is my story.

I do not know where this journey will eventually take me but I am enjoying the ride.

I was chatting to my old friend about life's purpose. We both come up with three and for me, one is to write. I build this website on Wix on my own. This is my platform. It is a shout-out to the universe – look! I am here.

My stories are out there quietly, patiently, and diligently – waiting to be discovered.

"Do not let the noise overshadow your voice."

You are right. Focus on the goal and do not let anything distract you.

P.S. I did listen to his advice. I have signed up for the free services of Grammarly.

#adayinthejungle #writer #wix #grammarly #dream