The position I’m in right now, which is a great one by the way, is all because of a few words one of my professors told me. Here’s his final critique for the portfolio (first ten pages of a novel) that I submitted for my creative writing class: “An excellent start to a gripping story. You’d better finish this!”
That made me feel like a writer. Nevermind the fact that I’ve always been a writer, someone else thought I was too. I really took his words to heart. That’s when I started writing 1000 words a day. It’s amazing how my story has taken shape–I’m 37,000 words in and I’ve only had a few brief setbacks. Part of the class assignments was to write a synopsis and brief outline, so those have helped a lot. I’m not usually a big fan out outlines, but I can’t deny that I wouldn’t be this far without them.
I think it’s important to note here that negative words can have just as much of an effect as positive words. For example, a girl in my creative writing class once asked what I wanted to do after college. When I told her I wanted to write, she said, “Well, I hope you marry rich!” It didn’t exactly make me feel good, but I wasn’t too hurt by it. I’ve spent too long trying to accept my identity to let someone’s callous comment get to me. For the record, she’s a business major and we’re still very good friends.
Your words can shape someone’s life, and whether it’s in a positive or negative way is up to you.