Tell your story!

post by Catsi Eceer, co-founder

If you're reading this, chances are, you're a storyteller. A writer. A poet. Even a painting can tell a story. You have a story, and you want to share it with the world. You want others to see your story, read your story. You want to be published, or famous, or whatever will get your story out there.

And really, who doesn't want that?

But sometimes, when we get so caught up with the goal of publishing, or fame, or whatever it is you're working towards, we lose sight of what we're really doing--telling a story.

We get caught up in the words, or the mechanics. We just need to get everything perfect, and then we'll be published. Then people will know who we are, and then we'll be famous.

The funny thing is, though, when we're trying to be perfect, that's when we're the farthest from our goal.

I'm guilty of this, too. Just recently, in fact, I was working on my current novel, and I was trying to be perfect. I want this novel to be published. I want it to be well known. A best-seller. I want everyone to love it.

But it's so not perfect.

And when I realized that, it was depressing. My thoughts started to be something like: I'll never be published. This book is stupid. No one would want to read it, anyway. Any agent to sign me would be making the biggest mistake of their lives. Why am I even wasting my time on this? Why am I writing this? I can't even write! I'm the worst writer in the history of bad writers. Look up "bad writer" in the dictionary, and there will be a picture of my face. See, I'm so cliche, I can't even come up with an original example of how horrible of a writer I am.

 Somewhere during my depressing mental-rant, though, my brain stumbled across this: Who cares?
Well, I care. I want to write well.
Why?
Well ... because I want to be published.
Why?
Um ... So people will read my story?
Don't you have to write a story first?

And it stuck with me. If I'm trying to write something perfect, I'm losing sight of my story. If all I can think about is being published, there's no room left for my story to just be a story. And that's what I want--A story. I'm not writing the next trend, or the next New York Times bestseller. I'm just writing my story.

That's not to say you shouldn't try to write well, of course. Just that your main focus shouldn't be on the quality of your writing style, or how likely it is for your book to become the next Hunger Games. Sure, go ahead and daydream, but don't lose sight of your story.

Write it. Write your story. Don't write a book, or a best-seller, or anything else like that. Just write the story you have inside of you.

Catsi's writing dictionary:
Book--A published work. Can be fictional or not.
Novel--A full-length written story, whether published or not.
Story--A tale of adventure, romance, suspense. Can be written via prose or poetry, or conveyed on a canvas. Pirates are optional.

To learn more about Catsi, see the About Us page.