There’s nothing more important in any endeavor than passion and the will to succeed regardless of the difficulties, so I’ve decided that instead of a post for the end of the A to Z challenge, I’ll create a little writer’s manifesto, a mantra, incantation, prayer, battle cry.
There has to be an end to self-doubt, halfhearted tries and endless excuses. If we doubt ourselves, we lose. If we don’t breathe life on the page and feed off the page, we wither. If we do not write, we’re nothing.
As writers we have enough adversity to face from other people and circumstances, we fight a hard enough battle even without kicking ourselves in the head when we’re on the ground. There is only so much we should take.
From now on, there will be no more wailing and procrastinating, no more beating about the bush and drowning in doubts and self-pity. There will be no more excuses and no more second-guesses. From now on there is only our word, and our word shapes the future. Now say it with me —
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–
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I will crack my knuckles,
knock down my fear,
kill every doubt
and conquer the page,
–
for I am a writer,
and as a writer
I only recognize ONE TRUTH —
that which my pen creates.
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I am a writer,
and every single day
just like I breathe
–
I WRITE
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and there can be
NO OTHER WAY.
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–
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This blog post is the last of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, April 2012.
Thank you all for a wonderful time!
Veronica Sicoe 
I love it. 🙂
Thanks you for the awesome reading over the course of this month. Every entry was great. Motivational, educational . . . USEFUL. I’m glad the A to Z challenge introduced us!
*fist bump*
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It’s freakin awesome to find someone else who shares one’s geekiness AND writes sci-fi. So, right on!
*fist bump*
Now if you tell me you also like metal and tattoos, I’ma poke my finger and prep for the blood-brootherhood-of-screaming-pens! Sounds weird, but what the hell, right?
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As I’ve grown older, my musical tastes have broadened, but I’ve always loved metal. As for tattoos, when I was sixteen I swore I’d have two full sleeves by the age of twenty. Unfortunately, my 27th birthday is this month and I still have virgin skin. Yeah, I don’t know what happened. 😛
Does that work? I’ve never been in a cult before!
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If it works? Are you willing to carve WRITE OR DIE across the back of your right hand and dip it in sacred goat blood and swear an oath of secrecy about the true nature of your muse? That’s fine, you don’t really need that. We’ll just tap-dance on our shredded first drafts, is all. 😛
I got my first tat with 16 (to my parents’ delight), and this month my 29th birthday finds me with 4 of them, two of which are bigger than Yeti’s foot. And every inch was worth it. 😉
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Cool. My mantra would be similar but would mention chocolate more often.
mood
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Mmmm… chocolate…
Thanks for stopping by, mood! It’s been great meeting you!
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Yeah!!! You can take our lives, but you’ll never take…OUR LAPTOPS!!!
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Oh, and I love your interview over at OFW. Good stuff.
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Thanks, Adam! That interview was fun to do, and Mike’s a great (albeit kind of sadistic) fellow. Thanks for reading and commenting! 🙂
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It was nice to get to know you Vero! Love that little man and pen drawing, yours? Hope you stop in from time to time now that our challenge is gone.
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Drawings and letter-logos are all self-made with a couple of the hundreds of pieces of software that clog my harddrive. I’m glad you liked them!
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I truly mean this: I just got chills. Total gooseflesh.
I’ll be checking my RSS feed for your posts from here on out. Thank you for your VALUABLE tips, insights, inspiration, big-brain observations, humor, support – whew!
Hey Vero… Thanks. 🙂
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Thank you so much for your encouragement and kind words, Tracy!
I am so damn grateful to have met you (along with all these other wonderfully nerdy scribblers *points upward*), it’s the main reason this challenge has been such an incredibly valuable experience!
Thank you for being yourself and being here!
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Just found you on this last day of the a to z challenge. Congrats on completing the challenge, love the manifesto!
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Thanks, MJ! I saw your link up in Tracy’s blog post too. Cheers to meeting new creative bloggers! 😉
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We made it! I wanted to catch some Z’s tonight but first I want to try to visit all my favorite blogs from the challenge.
Well done!
This last post of yours was very inspirational.
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Thanks, Cindy! Glad you liked it. 🙂
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Love it. So glad to have found you through the A to Z challenge!
Jessica
A to Z Blogger & SF/Fantasy Writer @ Visions of Other Worlds
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Nice meeting you too, Jessica!
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What a way to end the A-Z challenge. Thanks so much for the motivation…writers need it big time.
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Thanks, Jay! It’s been a tough month, a solid pat on the back does everybody good. (especially me)
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Congratulations on finishing A to Z!
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Thanks Jolie, it’s been a wild ride!
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Hey, that’s a brilliant post, I think I need that on my desk wall when I’m writing. That way, when my kids walk in to interrupt, I can point at it silently.
Good luck, I’ll be following.
Damo
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Thanks, Damo! Glad you liked it enough to have it replace the “stick my fingers in my ears and sing really loudly and pretend I don’t hear you bothering me with nonsense when I craft my work of genius” -method. Good luck!
And thanks for following. 😉
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