SHOW UP!

Michelle Monet

Published in

ART + marketing

3 min readSep 12, 2018

I think we writers tend to be too masochistic and whiny sometimes and don’t give ourselves enough pats on the backs.

So many writers write about:
their writers blocks
their inner critics
the negative painful parts of the Writing Life.

I know I’ve done this often myself.

But, today I felt inspired to write a super duper positive post about my strengths as a writer.

Also, this is a response to my inner critic when it taps me on the shoulder trying to trip me up.

NOTE TO INNER CRITIC:

Hey YOU!! …inner critic. I’m a damn great disciplined and prolific writer!I show up in a disciplined and dedicated way to the page…no matter WHAT’S happening in my life or in the world. I show up daily and I do the work, anyway.

I am knee deep in writing my showbiz/survival memoir now and I am BRAVER THAN SHIT to write my story. There is a massive amount of pain and vulnerability in this story, but, despite all of that, I DO IT ANYWAY!

I work through it. I DO THE WORK!!

(I highly recommend this book by Steven Pressfield. One of the best books on writing out there.)

I show up.

I know I am supposed to tell my story bravely. I believe in vulnerability and courage as a memoir writer.

I owe so much of my brave spirit to Brene Brown who said:

I only work on bettering and improving my SELF as a writer, not competing with any one else, or comparing. I don’t care one bit about that, so stop trying to get me to compare myself with other writers. Not gonna do it.

I know my story must be told and I am going to tell it. I am committed to this Memoir.

I also write to please my ‘old lady self’. I think of me at 80 or 90 years old, looking back on my younger self, (my 56 year old self), saying ‘DAMN GIRL .You sure wrote a large volume of work. I’m proud of you! You rock it!”.

I see myself with a large pile of books that I’ve written surrounding me when I am that old lady happily rocking in my chair, coming up with new writing projects.

I will stick with my goal of writing books and essays on all different subjects, not just my current memoir.

I am committed to my Bucket List goal — — to write a minimum of one book a year, and YAY… I am right on track. I published 5 books in about 2 years, so I’m way ahead of schedule(grin). Some were very well received, others ignored but hey they were all learning experiences, and I became a better writer with each book I wrote.

Becoming a better writer is the goal, and that is happening.

SO THERE ! Take THAT inner critic.