Writing YOUR Book

Michael Jackson describes writing a book perfectly in his song "Want to be starting something," when he said it was too high to get over and to low to get under.

I read a quote that Eleanor Roosevelt declared saying, "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." I always wanted to write a book but I was afraid of success. It is one thing to be afraid of failing, but success? I take my writing very personally because it is an intimate extension of myself. Opening myself up to criticism is not a very becoming prospect. Yet, I have always been encouraged to write more because my writing was found to be entertaining. Then, was it time? No, I write daily. I write email, cards, messages, and even journal so I find time to write daily. What was it that took me 11 years to finally write a book? It was the call to do so. I felt the passion, urge, and timeliness of my current project and I never looked back. I was inspired, encouraged and yes; even dared to go forth by a veritable smorgasbord of set backs and still - I went on.

I have always dreamed of being a writer. I believed that it was impossible to actually be paid to do the one thing I have always loved since I was able to write. I believed that only a few like the people who win the lottery have the slim chances of writing a book. I actually believed that I would have to prove something in order to have the audacity to place myself in history with ink. I did not think of those silly beliefs anymore. The truth is, I just wrote. I wrote when I was inspired, when I was not, when I was tired, when I was busy, and when I just could not look at another letter. I wrote despite my grammar, my flow, my research, or despite possible gains. I wrote and made great strides and then rewarded myself. I wrote and went backwards and still - I rested and just kept going.

When I was in the midst of writing a book, a biography called, "Tone-Kei" pronounced (TON-KEY-EYE) I would do deep breathing in order to relax. I did yoga, I called out to God and I listened repeatedly to a song called, "The Lakota Women's Power Song." The song did not have decipherable lyrics for me, yet I could feel the power of an Indian woman who was able to sustain her family's existence with nothing familiar except the blanket on her back. That song made me feel better about the long journey I was on, and that I was not alone in the attempts to forge through new ground.

I did it. I made it, and I am proud of myself.

"Yes, I believe in me

So you believe in you." - Michael Jackson