DO YOU BELIEVE?

Yesterday and today I subbed for high school English. I have to say, I certainly enjoyed finishing up Ethan Frome with the seniors. Everyone had this horrified look on their faces when they realized the deliciously ironic way that story ends.(No - I'm not telling you the ending. Go read it for yourself - it's really not that long. You know you're dying to know the ending now).

Anyway, when you sub, you usually do a lot of sitting around and waiting for students to finish their busy work, assignments left by the departed teacher. So, I brought along my 2013 Writer's Market book. If you aren't familiar with it, this is a book that lists all the various markets for your writing. From poetry, to novels, to magazine articles - Writers Market has it all.

For the first time, I saw my dream of writing, not as a dream, but something that was real. Something I could wrap my hands around.

I'm not sure what the difference was this time. It's not like I haven't gone through Writer's Markets from other years. It's not like I haven't made lists of possible places for my ideas, but it was the first time I really, truly saw the possibilities, not just as a maybe - but as a yes!

Maybe it's because I've been meeting multiple weekly deadlines for almost two years now. Maybe it's because in just a couple months I'll be 40 years old, and really, if not now - when? Maybe it's because I just believe I can, that I have something to say and there are people out there who are willing to listen.

I'm sure I'll get rejected. For a writer, being rejected is just a part of life. But that's okay because sometimes, I won't.

The thing is, God created me to be a storyteller. Whether that is sharing someone else's story or spinning one of my own, I've been telling stories in one form or another all my life.

When I was in elementary school, we always went out to recess no matter how cold it was, but I was always warm. My secret was that most recesses, you'd find a group of girls huddled together next to the brick wall. I was at the center, a pint-sized Scheherazade, knowing that as long as I spun a good story, my audience would stay huddled around me and I would not have to fear the cold.

One girl would throw out a sentence, and another one would send some other detail my way. I'd pick up the threads and start to weave, holding the other little girls captive with my words.

It was heady stuff. I felt invincible - well, until the teacher blew the whistle and I morphed back into the somewhat nerdy kid with the red afro and freckles.

The thing is, writing is my dream, and for the first time in a long time, I have enough time to truly visualize that dream becoming a reality.

I can't tell you how good that feels.

So, I guess, staying with my theme of 30 days of thankfulness, today I'm thankful for the God given courage to not just think about what I'd like to do, but to, as Nike would say, just do it.

What is God asking you to step out and do?
~ Blessings, Bronte