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Rozanne Paxman
Your Unique Voice
I have always wondered if there is some drive or need in a great author that hurls their lives forward in such a way that it would be impossible for them not to write masterpieces. Or perhaps they have a creative "itch" that simply has to be scratched. You know the kind... the kind that once you discover you have it, it consumes your thoughts completely until you give into the temptation and rub it away.
Like that.
Perhaps great authors have such a deep creative crevice that must be attended to that if they did not, their minds would be driven to knit endlessly.
But, what if this were not true? What if every single successful author, artist, composer, or great thinker who ever lived were not consumed in such a way that they simply had to work or die trying?
What if – yes - what if they were just like you and me? What if they struggled with feelings of inadequacy, fought to learn how to hone their skills, worked to squeeze out time to try their hand at their creative efforts? What if they had occasions where they had to discipline themselves to chip away at their works until they were complete - one syllable, one brush stroke, one breath at a time? What if they were uncertain if their work would be acceptable – let alone remarkable - but they kept going anyway because they had to try?
If they had to do it that way – and that's the way I do most things – then maybe that means I have hope. It would mean that every day that I get up and make a little progress toward my goals, I am saying, "I am here, and here is my voice."
Maybe, I'll never write the next great American novel. Maybe no one will ever read my Muses after I've printed them and put them into my binders. Who knows? Perhaps my descendants won't be that interested in my scrapbooks, and after a brief time, my work with Scrap Girls will fade away as a tiny, semi-interesting blip.
But you know what? I don't think it matters. The effort I am making is moving me forward in my own life - and that is worth something.
The message of the great masters is to try. If they hadn't dared to try, we wouldn't have their works to beautify our lives. Who knows what unique voice lies inside each of us? What is certain is that if we don't use our voice, we will never be heard.
Today, I challenge us all to do something in which we use our own unique voice.
- Ro
Muse: To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation. Not intended to solve the world's problems, another person's problems, or to cover topics completely. One does not have to agree with musings to enjoy them, just as one does not have to be the same as someone else to appreciate who they are.
Would you like to earn a $20 Gift Certificate? Send your own muse to [email protected]. If it is selected for publication in the Scrap Girls newsletter, you'll get to have fun shopping!
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