Ginger Scott's Blog - Posts Tagged "colleen-hoover"
Darn You, Matthew McConaughey
I've been wanting to write this blog post for a while. I've started it and stopped it in fits, completely deleted it a few times, started again and, well…here we are.
I love telling stories. It's what drew me to journalism in the first place--and I've told some pretty unbelievable stories of some real people who have lived some fantastical lives. I've told of their survival, their demise and their love. And when I was in the thick of my journalism career, notebooks full of quotes for the next magazine deadline, I thought to myself, "Wow…this is amazing. I've done this! But…I still want to do more."
You see where I'm going with this. Matthew McConaughey. I waited up on Oscar night knowing he was probably going to win just to watch his speech. I didn't really expect to have it stick with me for weeks. Honestly, I just wanted to see him say "Alright, alright, alright." (Which he did, and yes, we can all agree it was totally bad-ass!)
But damn him. He had to go and get all kinds of poetic. Yes, he may have been a little more quixotic than some care for, but the point of what he said was pretty potent: Be your best self, and then move the bar and be better.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be Judy Blume. When I was a journalist, I wanted to be Curtis Sittenfeld. Most recently, I want to be Colleen Hoover. All amazingly talented women authors who I admire, respect and aspire to. And it's good to have inspiration. It's good to consume art made by those you look up to and to let it guide you and educate you, maybe even influence you. But then…then there's Matthew McConaughey.
In case you missed his amazing speech, he basically said he always chases himself, 10 years in the future. Chase myself, 10 years in the future. Hmmmmm…. that seems….hard. That seems scary, with all sorts of possibilities for disappointment. And failure, as I've shared before, scares the daylights out of me.
I've thought about this for days--alright, weeks, hence the start-and-stop of this blog post. I'm always chasing someone else, because I feel like they are so amazing--better, cooler, more talented, on top...pick the positive adjective and insert it here. But, oh you wise Matthew McConaughey, you--in the world according to Matthew, I don't have to be anything other than whomever I end up being down the road. And I'm bound to have learned a thing or two, accomplished something, and become a better writer than I am now.
I've written three books, and I'm enormously proud of them. I've learned from feedback--both the positive and the tough-to-take. I'm in the thick of finishing my forth novel, my most personal and emotional story yet. And this year, I took a leap, finally making good on that promise to myself to see what it's like to be a writer full-time. I bet me 10 years ago would be in awe of the me I am right now.
So what the hell…I'm going to start chasing myself...10 years later. I'll probably chase Colleen Hoover for a little while, too. You can't make the shift to full-on Matthew overnight. But maybe, just maybe, one day I'll feel worthy of running alongside her.
I love telling stories. It's what drew me to journalism in the first place--and I've told some pretty unbelievable stories of some real people who have lived some fantastical lives. I've told of their survival, their demise and their love. And when I was in the thick of my journalism career, notebooks full of quotes for the next magazine deadline, I thought to myself, "Wow…this is amazing. I've done this! But…I still want to do more."
You see where I'm going with this. Matthew McConaughey. I waited up on Oscar night knowing he was probably going to win just to watch his speech. I didn't really expect to have it stick with me for weeks. Honestly, I just wanted to see him say "Alright, alright, alright." (Which he did, and yes, we can all agree it was totally bad-ass!)
But damn him. He had to go and get all kinds of poetic. Yes, he may have been a little more quixotic than some care for, but the point of what he said was pretty potent: Be your best self, and then move the bar and be better.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be Judy Blume. When I was a journalist, I wanted to be Curtis Sittenfeld. Most recently, I want to be Colleen Hoover. All amazingly talented women authors who I admire, respect and aspire to. And it's good to have inspiration. It's good to consume art made by those you look up to and to let it guide you and educate you, maybe even influence you. But then…then there's Matthew McConaughey.
In case you missed his amazing speech, he basically said he always chases himself, 10 years in the future. Chase myself, 10 years in the future. Hmmmmm…. that seems….hard. That seems scary, with all sorts of possibilities for disappointment. And failure, as I've shared before, scares the daylights out of me.
I've thought about this for days--alright, weeks, hence the start-and-stop of this blog post. I'm always chasing someone else, because I feel like they are so amazing--better, cooler, more talented, on top...pick the positive adjective and insert it here. But, oh you wise Matthew McConaughey, you--in the world according to Matthew, I don't have to be anything other than whomever I end up being down the road. And I'm bound to have learned a thing or two, accomplished something, and become a better writer than I am now.
I've written three books, and I'm enormously proud of them. I've learned from feedback--both the positive and the tough-to-take. I'm in the thick of finishing my forth novel, my most personal and emotional story yet. And this year, I took a leap, finally making good on that promise to myself to see what it's like to be a writer full-time. I bet me 10 years ago would be in awe of the me I am right now.
So what the hell…I'm going to start chasing myself...10 years later. I'll probably chase Colleen Hoover for a little while, too. You can't make the shift to full-on Matthew overnight. But maybe, just maybe, one day I'll feel worthy of running alongside her.
