I WON A PRIZE 🥳
Today’s letter is about the discomfort of shouting out about success. This is a 4-minute read.
Hello and Salam alaykum friends 👋🏾,
I hope you’re having a great start to the weekend. How’s your writing going?
This was supposed to be in your inbox yesterday, but it was a very long day, and I ended up only doing the bare minimum. So, I’m keeping today’s letter short.
National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) where people challenge themselves to write 50,000 words (or a word count of your choice) in one month, through daily writing practice, is fast approaching. I’m curious to know which of you would be interested in taking part. Perhaps we can track our goals and hold each other accountable on a weekly basis.
Back in September, I shared that my YA, Never Enough, was shortlisted for a prize, and I am delighted to announce that it’s won the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2022! You can watch the announcement here.
Since finding out that I won – in addition to being told by several loved ones that I have to share this (they know me too well) – I’ve had some time to think about why I’m reluctant to share my writerly successes, and quite a few things have surfaced.
I hold myself to high expectations, so when I achieve something, I acknowledge it for a minute by thanking God for His Grace and Favour, and then I move on very quickly to the next action. I feel like by shouting about my achievement, I’m attributing the success to myself, even though I know that’s not the case. So I’m working on accepting that while God’s blessing is paramount to my success, I’ve also put in the work. And this may be the root issue – consistently downplaying the work and effort I put in.
I’m used to well-meaning people telling me ‘things come easy for you’ or ‘you’re so lucky’ or ‘smart’ or ‘privileged’, and they attribute all these things to why I’ve obtained a particular success. At first, I’d try convincing them that I certainly worked hard for this. I’d delve into the details of how much blood, sweat and tears went into the writing of the book, but it was never enough. Overtime, I realised that not sharing – or only sharing with a few people – saves me from having to deal with such comments or explain myself.
However, putting yourself out there comes with several benefits including opening yourself up to opportunities. You never know who in the world may stumble on your story, and how they may influence a dream or goal of yours. Besides, not much comes from staying in one’s comfort zone, and as a lover of growth, I had to challenge myself to sit with the discomfort that stemmed from sharing and figure out the best way to own my truth regardless of what people think/say.
I’m blessed to be surrounded by loved ones who constantly celebrate and cheer me on regardless how ‘small’ the achievement. It’s through their excitement and the joy they exude, that I realise how much I should be shouting about my success too, or that the magnitude of whatever it is dawns on me.
In a recent conversation with a friend, I was also reminded that sharing isn’t just about me. This writing I’m doing, this skill I’ve been blessed with, is for a purpose much bigger than me, and sharing my story might give someone else the permission to write their own story or carve their own path. And in the words of another friend, ‘the journey is just as important as the destination.’
I started writing seriously and consistently in 2016, and I recently stumbled on something I’d written back in 2016. I cringed as I read it, and no one will probably ever see it, but it affirmed for me something I’ve always believed in: writing is a skill that can be learnt and improved upon. It’s one of the many reasons I love it. It’s always challenging and there’s always room to be better. That piece from 2016 would never have won the prize, but one which I wrote over a couple of years and continuously worked on improving, did. The most important thing is showing up to the page and doing the work.
I’ll leave you with the words of one of my favourite authors:
Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance. – James Baldwin
My reading list at the moment is university related articles, and I’m swamped with deadlines, but we shall pick up as normal on the first Friday in November!
If you enjoyed reading this and found it beneficial, why not spread the word?
Wishing you a blessed and splendid weekend! :)
Till next time,
Suad