Go do your thing - how to support each other

Today I'm going to quote someone else's words on this blog.  I'm going to quote extracts from a piece written by Becky Chambers, which was first published on 3rd March 2015 at http://hodderscapecape.co.uk/Becky-chambers-on-writing.  

"There's a person out there I'd like to talk to.  I don't know you, but I know you've got a thing.  Maybe you're a fellow writer...  Suffice it to say, you've got an itch, and you need to scratch it.

"...You're aching to make it happen, but you haven't yet.  You've thought of a thousand reasons why you can't - or shouldn't - and you're sure it's a stupid idea in the first place.  But it won't leave you alone, that pesky thing.  Wracked with indecision, you've placed the matter in the hands of... Whoever.  The universe, let's say.  You're waiting for a sign, a big cosmic quest marker giving you the go-ahead to make that thing.

"I needed an external thumbs-up too, a few years ago.  I had started writing a book, but I didn't think it was anything anybody would ever want to read.....

"People did want me to make that thing, and because of that, I'm here at Hodderscape now...  None of that would've happened if it weren't for a posse of strangers giving me a nudge.

"Consider yourself nudged.

"Go make your thing. Even if you have no idea how to get started, even if you have no idea where it will take you...  At the very least, it'll teach you something that will help you make the next thing, and the next after that, and so on and so on, until you're standing atop a giant glorious pile of things the world has never seen before...

"So submit that manuscript...  Do your thing.  Nobody else can do it for you.  You've got your sign .  Take it and run."

This is how to support others.  Go read the whole piece, and be inspired by a writer who is nominated for a Hugo award, one of SF's most important awards, this year.  I for one will be voting for her.  Not just because I love her writing and her stories, but because here is a generous-hearted writer paying it forward.  More, please.

I've met far more of the jealous, tear-you-down type over the years, so thank you, Becky Chambers for your words of inspiration to people you've never even met.