🎧 From Doubt to Direction: The Five Words That Changed Everything

When a teacher's simple note became permission to write

A glimpse at making bold promises about your writing, plus the transformative exercise that helped launch my first memoir. This two-part lesson might just spark your own breakthrough.

Welcome into Flight School, it’s great to have you here:

In my last post, I had been given a nod by Steve—not so much a blessing to write a memoir, but a “Why not?”—after I assured him I would sell it.

Jennifer paints herself into a corner…

Taking the first steps

It's difficult enough to feel the intense emotions that will rise to the surface as a result of simply journaling about one's life, but writing a memoir and selling it? Was I out of my mind?

Yes. I was completely whacked out. Bad idea, a part of me thought. Bad plan. Too much pressure. Waaayyy too much pressure. But another part of me couldn't wait. I was ready to write.

As soon as dinner was made that night, eaten, and the dishes done, I went to work re-configuring my path. My dossier-style news report was lifted from the shadows of a file cabinet. Those journals filled with all those pesky emotions were yanked down and dusted off. A few taps of the keys and I signed up for creative writing classes at Portland State.

Finding early teachers & the power of being seen

For the next several months, growing rounder by the day while the baby grew, I wedged myself into one of those wrap around desks with a pen at the ready, a pile of required reading tucked into my pack, and a notebook open taking notes and absorbing all I could from these early teachers.

The first and most powerful moment in those early days of study was what I call “being seen,” in a genuine way.

This came from Diana abu-Jaber, author of Arabian Jazz (and several others) who wrote this on my submission: This is the real thing.

It seems like almost nothing, breadcrumbs on a starvation trail, but Diana told me exactly what I needed to hear. A blessing on me, too, because they had been written by a published author. Me, who had published nothing, was writing the real thing. It was like a years worth of gas in my engine. This endorsement fueled me up and made me work that much harder.

A classic lesson worth sharing

The second moment came from another writer, and this one was visiting the campus so I cannot remember her name. But the lesson was classic and rather than restate it, let’s do it now.

Before we get started, the trick here is to move on each question without delay. Don’t ponder. Don’t think. Don’t give your mind a chance to get in there and futz around.

✍️ Your Turn: The Ten Things Exercise

1) Make a list of ten things that have happened to you.

Go!

Once done, put your page away. Hide it in your date book, stick it in a drawer, and shove it under a book you’re reading. The next post will tell you what comes next!

🐦‍⬛, Jennifer