Welcome to “Show Us Your Roots,” where every Friday I share a new blogger with you. In the spirit of my blog, I encourage you to share yourself with us, talk about your writing, your blog, your story, and how/why/when you began blogging. If you’re interested in being featured, all you have to do is contact me. I have dates available beginning June 1st!
Today please welcome my new friend Laura Seymour. She’s a baker, taxi driver, housekeeper, laundress, account manager, word-crafter, volunteer, music nut, TV aficionado, and friend. Her most important role is that of wife & mom. She (rarely) blogs at Two Little Rockstars (twolittlerockstars.com), manages accounts & writes for V3 (v3im.com), and works full-time as a medical coder. Yes, she does too much and often feels like a nutcase.
She’s a Kansas City native, but detoured for several years to Texas. She & her family seceded to the place she loves almost two years ago. She hangs out at the playground, her kids’ school, and soccer games (yes, she even became a soccer mom). When she’s done with all of these super-cool activities, her nightlife includes watching “Too Close for Comfort” and “Three’s Company” and conking out on the couch by 10 PM. Her life is VERY exciting.
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I’ve never called myself a writer.
When someone asks me if I’m a writer, when I talk about my work, my response is always, “I can write, but I’m not a writer.” I have no idea what my hesitation is, but I think that attitude has become a stumbling block.
As a child of bookstore owners, reading has always been a part of my life, but I never loved writing until 7th grade English, when my favorite teacher saw something in my words for class that I didn’t know were there. She nurtured this side of me, and I still feel incredibly lucky to have crossed paths with her.
Like any handwritten journal I’ve ever started, my blogging life has been sporadic. Start, write, pour heart & soul into…get distracted, piss someone off, boredom…unpublish and start anew…I’ve done this a few times. Even now, I get the urge to start again and do something more “professional”, but I get freaked out by it all. I don’t have the time, energy, or patience. The real reason, though, I’m admitting for the first time here: I don’t have the confidence.
What I tell myself to avoid writing: Everyone else writes better than I ever could. The blogging world is saturated with wannabes like me. No one will care about what I’m saying. What would I write about (aside from boring stories about my kids)?
The truth: I’ve read a LOT of blogs over the past seven-ish years. I’m a decent, if not good, writer. Everyone has to start (over…again) somewhere. I’m not really new to this. I have supportive people that have cheered me on over the years. I’m surrounded by people that care about what I’m saying. And there’s plenty to write about…PLENTY! Just from this blog alone, I can find writing prompts galore. There are a lot of moments that go unwritten by me, and I want them to come out.
Still, the confidence holds me back. The idea of sending this and seeing it published on a blog with a lot of readers? Oof.
But therein lies the beauty of this community, right? Meeting Erin online through a mutual friend, I’ve fallen in love with her brave words. Reading eloquently written posts about topics that are deeply personal, painful, and difficult,I’m encouraged that I, too, can do this. If someone can reach inside themselves and turn life’s most awkward and hard moments into something beautiful, then so can I. I’m fairly new to Erin’s blog, but I feel a bigger fire here than I have in a long time in the blogging community. People leaving comments, people taking time and encouraging one another. I’m going to stick around and gain the courage to be a writer.
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psssst, Laura. I’ve got a secret to tell you. You ARE a writer!
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