This, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of this space, I am almost in tears. I’m sure your are in rapt attention to know why. The reason why this is…IMPOSTER SYNDROME. This is something that I believe every writer experiences, but Black writers? Man, that thing comes in the form of ravenous, racist wolves!
They feast on your talent, your drive, make fun of your gifts, and only want to see you fail! You only get free from those things when you confront them. In creating this space, I had to admit two things: (1) I might fail, and (2) no one may ever read a single word on this space.
I had to admit there will be people that will think I’m either “too”/”not enough”. I had to accept that, and write anyway.
I had to admit there will be people that won’t support or follow, because it’s me. I had to accept that, and write anyway.
I had to admit there would be people whom would leave hateful comments about anything, or everything I wrote. I had to accept that, and write anyway.
Moral of the story: Five years later, I’m still writing…anyway. And there are 500 people that love what I do. So, I guess I’ll do this another five years…and keep writing. Anyway.
The Ideal Firestarter 