Are All Authors X-tremists?
Yesterday I finished WILD LIFE by Michael Modzelewski. It was a riot! The story is a memoir of the author’s life as a Cosmo bachelor and his journey to where he is today. It’s verrrry adult, so all my teen readers close your eyes, but for my not so innocent friends, the story is not only hilarious, but layered with lovely discoveries about life, love, and emotion. You can read my 5 star review or purchase the book on Amazon here.
After I finished Mr. Modzelewski’s book, I checked out his site and discovered aside from his writing, he’s a total renaissance man. Completed 15 Ultra marathons (For those of you who don’t know, they’re like 100 mile races), climbed several of the world’s highest mountains, is a motivational speaker all around the world, had his life dramatized in an Off-Broadway play along with being made into a major motion picture, and the list goes on… and on… and on….
I live with an X-tremist. He too has done Ultra marathons and climbed incredible peaks (i.e. the Matterhorn), and accomplished great feats that the “normal” person would never dream of doing. The reason I bring this up is because there are certain type of people in this world that Just. Aren’t. Afraid. They’re missing that chromosome that tells them “no.” They see what they want, go out there and do it. Why? Because they can.
I’m not one of those people. I exude confidence and hope on the outside, but inside? I go back and forth and back and forth on whether something’s right for me, if I really have the skills, whether or not I’m wasting my time… I’m a hard worker, but it’s a mental strain every step.
But then it hit me.
Even though I may be missing that “I can do anything and be successful” chromosome, I’ve realized I can still be an X-tremist. Regardless of what one feels on the inside, the end result can be the same. As long as I can train myself to push through those negative mental barriers.
We writers may not be ultra-marathoners, but it takes just as much perseverance, time, sweat, training, and heartache to be an author. We are X-tremists. Just like one trains for an ultra marathon (which takes hours and hours of physical training and pain), we face that same type of adversity/doubt/frustration every day staring at that blank page, that sentence that just isn’t right, or that one word that is ruining the mood like a drop of iodine in water.
So, even though we may all not be Michael Modzelewski (super human), we still can be extraordinary.
Where do you fall in the X-tremist scale? Does the word “no” affect you? Or are you more like me? I’d love to know your thoughts.
Red. Head. Out. 😀
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