Today, i got a lot wonderful and beautiful gifts this year from both my partner and my family.
However my favorite was a gift that i didn’t even ask for. Well at least not intentionally…
It was the first gift i opened this morning – a pretty brown recycled bag with gold and black lettering forming words i quickly forgot.
But its contents contained words i will never forget.
It was a book. And i loooooove books so getting one for Christmas really isn’t anything very spectacular in and of itself.
But this book in particular was not even one i ever considered reading much less owning.
It was Andy Weir’s The Martian.
i must have looked a tad confused because right after i told my partner thank you she said, i wrote something in it.
That’s interesting i thought as i put the book up to my nose and quickly flipped through its pages so i could enjoy that new paperback book smell. It smelled really good.
i opened it to the first page. Just reviews. i flipped to the second page and there i was greeted with my partner’s handwriting and words that would soon bring tears to my eyes and an overwhelming since of gratitude, love, and inspiration.
As i read, i was drawn back into my memory of how excited i was when i found out that Andy had self-published The Martian chapter by chapter on his website.
That was 2011. In 2015, his little sci-fi self-published book would become a bestseller – and a blockbuster movie.
i remember thinking: If Andy could do it so could i. Next year, i’m just going to say fuck what everyone else thinks, fuck it to traditional publishing, and go ovaries to the wall and publish this bad boy all on my own.
i had told my partner Andy’s story in passing as i was reading it in Entertainment Weekly on the sofa. She was in the kitchen doing something that i can’t remember…
Obviously, she didn’t forget.
i was holding not only the result of her careful attention at time when i didn’t think much attention was being paid, but a priceless piece belonging to my internal writing jigsaw puzzle that i didn’t even know i needed – or i had lost.
Here’s what she wrote:
i held the book to my heart; it’s imprinted there. And Andy Weir’s The Martian will be the first book i’ll read in 2016 and the only book to share space on my desk with the one i am writing.
i now possess everything i need to write what should have been written decades ago. But i didn’t have this. i didn’t have her words, her love, her belief in me and my talents conveniently an arms length away.
i am armed. i am ready. i am focused. i am hungry.
Wishing you the words you need to hear (or read) to stay focused and hungry – in whatever beautiful things you choose to do in these last remaining days in 2015 and into 2016 and beyond.
Mad love, light, and energy your way!
xo-b
