Progress = Success

This beautiful little stack of books was written by me. I can't believe it. Most of these books were written in the last 6 months. As an author, there's no moment when you feel like you've finally made it. There's just a lot of tiny milestones and if you don't take time to celebrate, you never will.

It hasn't been something I've shared in the past but I had a difficult time learning to read and write. I fell behind in school, had shortened spelling tests, and despised English class more than any of my others. My mom tutored me tirelessly to catch me up. We were "Hooked on Phonics."

My biggest reason for overcoming this obstacle was my mother. She never gave up on the lessons or taking me to the bookstore to help me find something that would be worth learning to read.

In the fourth grade, my teacher read the class a novel called, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles and it was the first time I fell in love with a book. But book reports were still a struggle and my sister, mom, and I passed those books around the room reading a chapter at a time to get them done.

I had a bit of a breakthrough during my freshman year in high school. We had this assignment to create a greek god or goddess and write a little about them and to save time my teacher anonymously shared read them to the class. I was so embarrassed by my spelling. I remember specifically using the word "awkward" but spelling it "aukward". I knew it looked wrong but not how to fix it. When the teacher read my story, he ignored all of the spelling mistakes and read it as I'd imagined, and even better the class smiled and laughed-- which was my story's intention.

Just like that, I was hooked. I learned I could create something from nothing and someone else could experience it. My most hated class became my favorite and by the time I reached college, I majored in English Lit and minored in Creative Writing. I went on to get get my MFA in Creative Writing and wrote my first novel and a screenplay in the process. I never thought I could write a full novel until I typed my first, "The end."

I still can't spell, my grammar is atrocious, and I'm only just starting this journey but I've learned that we are all capable of achieving our dreams, no matter how winding the road. The moment we reach our destination our eyes move to the next, so remember that progress is the true measure of success.

And don't forget to celebrate as you go. ;)