Keep Moving: Looking Ahead to Year 2023

Today marks the start of the third year writing for this blog site. For the past three years I’ve learned so much about myself through writing and sharing my words with the world.

This year l put out some of my favorites pieces to date. At the same time, I faced some of the toughest times creatively. I came to a point where I felt stuck, completely sucked dry of any ideas. I felt burnt out on the one thing I love to do the most. As a writer, it is the scariest feeling to feel like you have nothing left to say. There is no doubt in my mind that writing is what I want to pursue, therefore I vowed to myself not to quit. I think the first step in following any personal passion is to be your own biggest supporter. When your efforts seem futile, you have to keep moving.

Oftentimes I find myself revisiting and reading over works of mine as a reminder to myself of my potential. In the name of recognizing my own personal growth through my writing journey thus far, I want to take a look back and proudly showcase some of my favorite pieces I have written within the past year.

I think it’s fitting that one of the first times I felt truly proud of a work that I put out came earlier this year when I wrote about my love for writing.

As mentioned previously, this year met challenges that I had yet to face so intensely before. Just when I thought my creativity was all used up, I decided the only way I could accurately portray such daunting feelings is to write about them, so I used them as inspiration and turned them into one of my favorites pieces I have released to date.

https://faith-it-til-you-make-it.com/2022/08/31/writers-block/

The dichotomy of these two works is distinct, but I now realize this is the reality for many creatives.

Since the start of my pursuance of writing, and this year especially, I turned to words directly from various writers in order to stay inspired and driven to keep moving with my passion.

In the notes app on my phone, I keep a list of quotes that I feel I can relate to or that motivate me. These are just the quotes I added to the list shortly before the new year.

Inspiration is all around us; in the busy streets, on our televisions. It’s potent in every melody of the songs we play and in the lines of every book we read. It’s abundant in all aspects of art, we just have to open our eyes and recognize it. I personally am guilty of not searching for it enough. This year, I owe it to myself to seek inspiration. I will read more, observe more. Only then can I write to my best ability.

As a firm believer in manifestation, in every article I have ever written for New Year’s Day, I typically speak on my goals for the coming year. I’ve come to learn that goal setting or the trendy idea of “New Year’s resolutions” are merely wishful thinking without progressive action.

While we all have the capacity for our words to become our truth, sometimes the things we wish to manifest for ourselves are material possessions we expect to acquire immediately. These expectations only lead to despondency and reduced ambition. As of recent I’ve found solace in positive affirmations. In your daily life, you must speak with a positive attitude as if you already have everything you could ever dream of. Rather than expect to receive anything you want, truly believe that you deserve it and actively put your efforts into making it become a possible reality.

You can’t put a measurement to success, nor can you compare each of your own achievements to those of someone else. There is no timeline to when you will see your wildest dreams come true. All you can do is hold yourself accountable under your personal goals and pursue them with tenacity.

2022 taught me about patience and approaching each day with optimism. I can’t be certain what the future holds for me and my journey through writing, but I do know I am full of creativity and with it I will achieve big things someday. Until then, I just have to keep moving.

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Happy New Year! Here’s to a happy and prosperous 2023! 🎆🎇

Logophile


“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.” — Virginia Woolf

The greatest romance you’ll ever know is that of a writer and her soul. Her love language is storytelling, a pen to paper, her true love’s kiss. In her grasp she glides it over delicate sheets of ivory and leads the sweetest slow dance. 

“You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page.” — Annie Proulx

Enticed by the shape of words, her soul is awakened. Like blank pages of a story unwritten, the writer’s soul begs to speak. It’s a fatal affair, her pen bleeds to ease this consuming passion.

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and bleed.” — Ernest Hemingway

To be stripped of her voice she wouldn’t mourn, but she vowed to never let a word be left unsaid. She’s devoted to the creation of poems and proses. When scintillating syntax seduces her there is no finer bliss.

“A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.” — Roald Dahl 

The writer fears she may never meet her muse. For the moment she simply falls in love with every verse etched in black. So when my words are all that is left of me, I hope you understand I’m just a girl who loves writing. 

“A word after a word after a word is power.” — Margaret Atwood

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I believe even if we don’t understand it, there is meaning in everything. With this in mind, I was intrigued to learn more about the idea of synchronicity. This is the simultaneous occurrence of seemingly unrelated events with no feasible explanation. These “meaningful coincidences” are thought to be universal “signs”. If you often see repeating numbers or you think of something happening and it does, then you’ve experienced it. Such phenomenon happened to me recently. I was gifted a shirt with the saying “just a girl who loves writing” on it. Unbeknownst to my mother who gave me the shirt, over a year ago, I had randomly made up and typed out a very similar mantra. So, this Valentine’s Day I took this as a sign and got the inspiration to share my love for words, the art of written expression. I hope you love it!

I typed “just a girl who loves to write” under my Instagram bio over a year before receiving a shirt with the saying ”just a girl who loves writing”.