It’s amazing. Truly. The feeling of when you hit submit or publish your words to the world for the first time. I get such an emotional high from sharing that piece of my soul on paper.

I know that sharing my book with the word doesn’ t equate to people being interested in reading it, but it’s still a hard thing as a writer to let go of the expectation that someone else will care about your work as much as you will.

I just published my first poetry book, a compilation of poems near and dear to my heart from the last decade. If you are familiar with the art of writing poetry, then you will understand just how attached you can get to your own writing. Especially when bits of yourself are found within the folds of each page.

I know it is not a requirement to write to have such an emotional reaction to writing in order to write something good. I know that just because I have an emotional reaction to one of my poems, it doesn’t necessarily mean that another will have that same reaction. After all, we all live different lives, have different stories throughout our journeys.

…but I cannot help but feel my heart break a little each time someone puts my book down without feeling the ache in my chest as I read it myself.

Obviously, I haven’t figured out how to separate my emotions from my books. It’s a work in progress.

I’ve only self-published four books so far. One poetry, two fiction novels, and one short-story collection, but I am hoping with time that I won’t feel quite so deflated the days following that initial publishing high. Ultimately learning to let go of rejection, and well, my expectations of others, is going to be a valuable practice as I continue this publishing journey.

That’s why I am here actually. I need to be among other writers, other readers. Those that appreciate the written word for what it is, and what it provides us with. Others that understand just what its like to be a writer. Often underappreciated, but full of passion for our art.

To you writers, like me that push through the actual heartbreak that can sometimes be felt with the dismissal of our hard won work, I see you. I hear you. Hell, I am you.

This blog, is not about sharing my poetry, short stories, or in depth novels. No – those have there in own place in my life. This blog is about sharing the journey. About the good things, the bad things, that come with being a writer. The struggles of being a full-time employee in a completely irrelevant field and pushing through in your spare time when your words are nearly bursting forth, and putting yet more hours into this passion project. Hoping one day, you reach someone else with your writing, and make them feel what you feel – if only for a moment.