Who is Your Champion?

Since we have been talking so much about friendship and finding community as writers, I thought I’d touch on a similar topic.

(Cue- “Eye of the Tiger”)

 

Let me start by posing a question: Who is lifting you up, praying you through, reinforcing your worth?

When we write we don’t just slap some words in a blank document and hope they form a nice little story. We pour our hearts out onto the page, we bond with our characters, feel their pain as if our own. We walk in their broken path along side them in hopes of sending them off like proud mamas and papas, spurring them on to fulfilling their dreams.

I don’t know about you, but when I let someone read my story, I feel that old 6^th grade insecurity rise up. “Do they like me? Do they think it’s stupid? Is there toilet paper stuck to that struggling leg of my story?”

No matter where you are at in your journey, we all have room for improvement. Receiving a critique is not always a palatable experience. Sometimes you have to muscle down those words that sit like stones on your heart. But like river rocks, we have to face a lot of rough waters until we can be smooth and polished.

In order to face those doubts and those tumultuous insecurities without breaking we need a champion.

 Maybe it’s your spouse, someone that gives you time to write even when the kids are literally tearing your house down.

Maybe it’s your mom, who harasses you for the next few pages of your rough draft and boasts of never reading anything better. (Thanks mom, you’re sweet, but delusional. I love you for it!)

Or maybe it’s your writing partner, who cheers you on, soaks up your story, falls in love with your characters. You might even be lucky enough to have an agent or an editor who believes in you by standing behind your words and working to give your dream wings.

Perhaps, it’s God. The one pouring those words through your fingertips. They could be just for you, or for millions of hearts around the world, but He is the author of your dreams, and the most faithful friend.

No matter who you have on your team, prepping you for the ring, wiping up the sweat and tears after a hard blow, please know that you can’t walk this seemingly solitary dream alone. Put yourself out there. Let someone in. Share your story with your closest friend or join a writers group.

Be a champion for someone else.

So let me encourage you to step outside your writer bubble.

Find someone who will help you when you stumble, because you will.

Find someone who will encourage you when you doubt, because you will.

And find someone who will rejoice in your success, when you do!

Let’s take a moment to appreciate those who lift us up! Who is your champion? And how do they make you feel invincible?