That great feeling when someone on the other side of the world emails to say thank you. It makes all those days of banging your head against the keyboard, wrestling with that elusive sentence, pouring your soul into a story despite knowing full well someone, somewhere is going to give it a one star review, worth it.
I Hope You Dance
Stories can be incredibly powerful - It`s how we connect, and remember and learn. Concepts that would take hours to explain with facts and theories can be summed up in a simple parable. The right story at the right time can change someone`s life.
It doesn`t have to be a whole book, or even a short story. An encouraging message in a card, a well-timed quote - even a text message can have an impact.
Life is often tough. It hurts, and it can be confusing, scary and uncomfortable. We all need a break sometimes, something to lift us up, make us laugh and most importantly give us hope. To remind us that the good generally outweighs the bad.
A good story can tell us things that if anyone else tried to say to us, we`d tell them to shut up (although not necessarily out loud). We will listen to truths from a fictional character that we can`t take from our own family.
Inspirational writing can help us become better friends, daughters, sisters and wives. It shows us a new perspective, helps us understand a different point of view and takes us beyond our own little world.
It is too easy to get over busy, bogged down or stuck in rut. We can feel trapped, victims of our circumstances or too worthless to change. Reading about others doing it can give us the gumption and determination to change ourselves and our situation.
You get to inspire yourself in the process - to remind yourself of what`s really important, what you treasure and the truths that have been squished to one side by niggling anxieties or the pressures of day to day life.
Inspirational can never be boring. We can get lost in a book, do things we`ve never done and meet people we`ll never meet. We can become heroes, conquerors, adventurers. Some of that`s got to rub off eventually.
What we write can inspire generations after we are gone. The possibility that in years to come, our children`s children could be encouraged or influenced by our words is pretty awesome.
Beth Moran's book I Hope You Dance is out now.