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Phase one, complete!

I got a short story published in a collection! Huzzah!

It’s a story called ‘The Lost Art of Seduction’, which I wrote for university and actually posted on here a while back. Before you ask, because everyone does, no it’s not based on a true story.

This publication is important for a number of reasons.

One: it proves to me that I am actually alright at writing, no matter what my inner critic says. It shows that, if I put my mind to it, I could make this a regular thing.

Two: Whilst I don’t get paid for the publication, it gains a tiny bit of exposure, which at this stage in my career is probably more valuable.

And three: It firmly asserts my ambition to become a writer, to myself and other people. This one is probably the most important.

This is because, I am terrible at self discipline. The fact is that The Lost Art of Seduction was a story that I enjoyed writing and wanted to get a really good mark from. Had it not been for the pressures of deadlines, the story may never even have been conceived.

Now that I am out of university, I don’t write as much as I’d like. I have to be reeeally disciplined about it. I force myself to get into mini-swings where I write a bit every day, but if I miss a day or two because of work or my super-packed social life, it’s so hard to get back into it. It’s the same with this blog; you’ll notice that I write for a short spurt, then stop for ages.

But now that I’m published, albeit just in a little magazine, loads of people know about my ambition and are really heartwarmingly encouraging about it. Even people who I haven’t spoken to in years were dropping lovely comments on facebook congratulating me.

So now I feel like I need to write, so as to not disappoint all these people who seem to be impressed by my progress and would be interested if I had anymore success.

If I suddenly said ‘You know what? Writing’s a lot of effort, I can’t be bothered’, then I’d not only let myself down, but I feel like I’ll let down lots of people! This is a good thing for me. Whilst I love to write, I often can’t be bothered. This puts the pressure on, and pressure is a valuable commodity to a lazy procrastinator like me!

Hopefully the word tap will turn back on now.