“What is the first piece of creative writing you remember creating?”
This was asked today in a writing group I belong to, and I didn’t have to think hard at all to come up with the answer. My mind immediately flashed back to seven-year-old me, sitting in my bedroom and frantically adding the last few touches of color to my very first “book” before catching the bus to school. Created on lined notebook paper and bound with staples, it was beautiful. It was a masterpiece. It was … a short story about a giant piece of broccoli who was a detective.
Coming soon to a book store near you … Detective Broccoli Written and Illustrated by Kimberly Lewis
It sounds about as awesome as it was. I’d taken one of earth’s most despised vegetables, popped him in Sherlock Holmes attire, and set him off on a mission to help a poor little girl find her missing text book so she wouldn’t be late for school (spoiler alert: it was on her bed the whole time).
This memory, although light-hearted and super fun, kind of hit me hard though. I’d been so proud of that little book, took it to school that same day, and presented it our librarian who then had me read it aloud for story time. I still praise that woman for providing me with confidence from her ongoing encouragement to write/draw more. Up until her time of retirement, there was a little teeny tiny section dedicated to my work on our school’s library shelves. But the thing that hit me hard about this memory was how I’d been so freakin’ fearless back then.
Y’all … I wrote a book about a self-aware vegetable and showed it off like it was a NY TimesBestseller!
It took a lot for me to write my first book as an adult and even more for me to share it with people. Why? I’ll tell you why, and I’m sure you already know the answer: Fear. I was no longer confident and fearless. I was scared out of my mind for people to read my stuff.
“What if they hate it?”
“What if they totally bash my book?”
“What if they likedit?”
“What if I can’t pump out books fast enough to keep readers interested in my writing?”
Welcome to the mind of an author.
Now, by all means, I am no expert on giving writing or publishing advice. I’m still learning myself here. But thinking about my first creative story and then my first published story really got me in the mood to throw out what advice I can give, and I’m about to tell you—advice I’ve repeated to myself a lot over these last few years.
Embrace the fear. Embrace the mistakes. Embrace the “I’m doing the best I can with the time I have”. Take it and learn from it, because no matter what anyone tells you, every success story has a failure in there somewhere.  Failure means you tried. Failure means you were at least brave enough to put yourself out there—brave enough to take the lesson and use that information to better your craft.

Bottom line, if you’re an aspiring author, or even an established author in a bit of a slump: Don’t give up J
XOXO,
Kimberly