Dear Me...

Dear Me,
         This year is your year to get yourself published. This is the year that you stop cranking out articles that you don't care about, for people you don't know, that you won't ever get paid for. (Working for free doesn't put food on the table, after all.) It's all fine and well that it gave you an opportunity to improve, but you've been improving for over a year. It's time to make a name for yourself already!
         Step one is making sure you write something every single day. I don't care if it's a poem, a chapter, or a song. Something needs to be written every single day. No more daydreaming of what could be. If you're going to get published, you need to take action now. There isn't some editor out there scouring the internet looking for you. If you want this, which I know you do, then you need to get your butt in gear!
         Step two is putting in what you get. If somebody is taking the time to review a piece that you've spent hours agonizing over, then you can do that person the same courtesy! It's a mutual benefit; you get to help somebody to improve themselves, and you learn more about writing. Everyone has a different writing style, and for all you know, you could stumble onto a neat trick that could bring out an entirely new side of your writing.
         You need goals. In the long term, your goal is to write something that will make a difference to somebody. Make someone care, and feel something intense and beautiful. Do for someone what that one anonymous writer did for you; save a life with the power of words. Show somebody the worth and beauty that the world, and ourselves as humans, have to offer. If even one persons day has been made brighter by your words, then it's worth the agonizing over word choice and placement, isn't it? So every day, make it your mission to move somebody with what you have to say.
         Short term goals are always constant improvement. You have a word calendar, use it! Learn a new word, use it in a sentence during conversation that day! The more you learn, the more tools you have in your arsenal as a writer. Expand on your writing. You have a book in the progress, work up the nerves to get it up, chapter by painstaking chapter. People are here to help you improve, so don't be scared of what they have to say! Yes, this writing is your baby. Yes, sharing is hard. Growing pains suck, but it'll be worth it when you have a finished product that tens and potentially even hundreds of people helped you to make into the best book it can be.
         Bring “biomythography” into public light. It's a word created by some of the most inspiring writers you're lucky enough to know. You can go far with this. You've lead a life that is worth sharing with people. You've always said that you wanted people to be able to learn from the mistakes you've made with your life, and this is exactly how you'll show them. Bring your mistakes to light, and show them what you've learned. Admitting when you're wrong isn't hard. “I'm wrong.” See? Easy. Nobody will tell you that you're wrong in having learned from your mistakes.
         You really have to finally put together that poetry book that you've had in your head for years. You know that people genuinely enjoy what your poetry has to say. You've worked for years to establish your voice, to understand the structure of your work, and to produce poetry that makes people feel. For Pete's sake, you made a table of people cry during your writing class! Make that book! This year! Start now, dang it! You have so much poetry built up, it's time that people start to get to see it for what it is. You're laying your heart on the line, but if you want to move somebody, you have to let them be moved. Nobody is going to read your mind and search out your poems. Show people. It's worth it.
         You're going to make it. Before 2015 roles around, you're going to get yourself published. You can do this. You're a strong writer, with a strong voice and a lot to say. You've never kept anything quiet before this, it's time your writing follows suit. It doesn't matter what anybody else says, you've got this! So rock it, and write on!

Sincerely,
         Me

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