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OBrian of the Surface World replied to the topic You Have Arrived at Parimi Alca! in the forum Announcements 7 years, 6 months ago
Taylor and I were chatting about a response I wrote to you responding to your question:
As a high schooler, I’m curious—what is it like coming back to writing now that you are older? Several people have looked down upon my decision to focus on a career in writing because they think I’ll only be successful until I’m thirty. (Which I think is quite ridiculous, since many of the greatest authors ever were at least over forty when they published their greatest works.) They seem to think that once I reach a certain age, I’ll no longer have an audience. Have you ever felt like you have trouble getting people interested in your work just because you’re older?My answer to you was that I have chosen not to let fear of what others might think or my own fear of failure get in the way because it will distract me from using the gift God gave me, breed self-doubt and cause me to give up. I did that before but learned a hard lesson that attempting to please everyone is an impossible task, and many times I can’t even please my own self-critic. I do share your desire as you stated:
I want to write the kind of story that is heart-changing and masterfully done, and if God changes one life through my work, I believe every effort will be worth it.But we do have an enemy who does not want that to happen and will try to use every means possible to discourage us from doing so, even to the point of using our own self-condemnation or some unreasonably high standard to do so.
What I was trying to say is turn down the noise, focus on your calling, and let that gift resonate and be expressed.
You have this promise:
“24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” [1 Thessalonians 5:24 NASB]God does not invest gifts that He doesn’t have a wonderful purpose for. Pursue it. The Lord will prepare your audience well past your thirties and beyond. Don’t give it up, as I did for a time. Set reasonable goals and stay with it. In the delight you take in writing, let there be a balance of learning skills, that never loses sight of the delight you have in practicing your gift. Since you spoke of others looking down on your decision to pursue a career in writing, I wanted to encourage you.
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