I have always been in love with writing and telling stories. Always. I have stories dating back to age 6 or 7, carefully saved by my mom. I’ve also always been my own worst critic. I have a very loud inner critic that is always quick to tell me that what I just wrote was terrible.

I always imagine that my inner critic looks like Grumpy Cat.

It has taken a lot of work on me and a lot of “You don’t suck” conversations/pep talks from friends but I’m finally pretty sure that I can write a story that doesn’t suck.

My inner critic still pops up every now and again though. Recently I turned in the first part of my thesis. This is also the first part of my novel in progress. It was super scary to turn it in. My inner critic hijacked my dreams that night and I woke up certain that it was terrible and that it was just a matter of time before my professor confirmed that and told me to drop out.

Today though, today my inner critic can shut up. Today my professor sent me his comments. He used phrases like “top-flight prose style,” “beautiful work,” and “incredible.” A classmate also gave me wonderful praise, saying that my story made her cry.

For the first time since I was a little girl scribbling out stories in a spiral notebook, it feels like this dream will come true. I will write stories. And people will read them and ask for more. Yay!