Today we are participating in this blogfest and re-posting a post. We give you one of our first posts from October 2011. Check out other top-notch re-posts by bopping to the other sites listed at: http://dlcruisingaltitude.blogspot.com/2011/11/deja-vu-blogfest.html
Swagger:
to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence.
Swaggerer Jon Egan circa 1980's
A few years ago, I hardly swaggered. I more or less staggered.
When at my husband's work functions, people would ask what I did for a living. I would stammer, “Oh, I'm a stay-at-home mom.” On occasion with a couple drinks in me, I might even blurt out, “I write sometimes.” But the follow-up question would leave me staring like a deer in headlights, “So, what have you published?”
At that time I had published a poem in a children's book ( http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Glimpse-Michigan-Kevin-Kammeraad/dp/0971269297 ). I had attended conferences, belonged to a critique group, was writing my first novel, and had written for as long as I could remember. But I had no confidence in myself as a writer. I didn't have any credentials to call myself a writer.
All of that changed though.
Shortly after I found out I was pregnant with our third child, an opportunity came into my inbox from the Highlights Foundation ( http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/ ). For years, I had been getting their newsletter about workshops for writers and though I really wanted to go, I knew it wasn't a financial priority. But I decided to apply for a scholarship. I was working on my second YA novel and I figured it couldn't hurt to try. Despite my collection of over 50 rejection letters from publishers, I applied.
It wasn't long before I received an e-mail that invited me to Honesdale, PA, for a YA Novel workshop with Rich Wallace ( http://www.richwallacebooks.com/Home.html ). The foundation covered most of the cost for the workshop. I was elated. Someone aside from my husband believed in me as a writer. So we scraped up enough money for a plane ticket and I was off.
Swaggerer Rich Wallace
Needless to say, I found my voice. And I learned how to be confident in it.
I made life-long friends that believed in me, encouraged me and inspired me.
After my third daughter was born, our family experienced a traumatic event
( http://thegortfamily.blogspot.com/2010/03/elizas-first-day.html ). It changed us all, forever. But the one thing that remained intact was my voice. I wrote my way through grief, and two years later I am still writing.
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Swaggerer Melissa Kline |
I challenge you to find your voice and swagger, too.
***
The Guilt of Honesty
Looking over a cliff
and if I don't take the first step
I will fall
or be pushed by circumstance
into the jagged rocks below.
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| Swaggerer Kim Van Sickler |
But if I jump
calculate my velocity,
I will hit
the cool water
below,
where I can swim
uninhibited,
free.
Maybe even bask on a rock
 |
| Swaggerer Kathy Cannon Wiechman |
before I climb
back up the cliff face
inch by inch.
And onto the path
that leads
Home.
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| Swaggerer Graziella Buonanno |
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| Swaggerer Juliet Bond (second pink shirt from left) |
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| Swaggerer Regina Gort |
