AKA – Don’t turn in your creativity badge and become a ‘normal’ just yet.

So like the bamillionty other writers out there on the information superhighway (aka, the interwebz for you noobz ;-), I follow a lot of writer blogs. Published authors, agented, unpublished. All of it. It’s not really because I’m looking for advice. I mean, I learn stuff from all y’all, I do. But if we’re honest, so many of us have heard so much of the same stuff over and over again, that we’re just reiterating it.

But…that reiteration is what I love. It’s part of the reason I can blow an entire morning reading everyone’s blogs. It’s like a super awesome game of telephone. I tell you something, and you tell it to the next person. Except each time it passes through one of us, it gets a new unique spin on it.

Because as creative types, we have a unique perspective on the world. Where a ‘normal’ person sees a traffic light, we see a button that opens a world to another dimension if the person pressing it has the right birthmark. Where ‘they’ see the grouchy man at the supermarket who’s holding up the entire line all but yelling at the cashier, we see a man whose wife left him for the neighbor’s son four months ago who can’t let go of his anger and really just wants someone to talk to but can’t make himself do it and OML! is that a gun he’s reaching for? Oh, it’s just his wallet so he can try a different credit card. Nevermind.

Anyway…that’s why I love this community. So many different unique thoughts and perspectives and ways to view the world and ‘the craft’ (the writing craft, not that movie from 15 or so years ago where pretty much the overriding point was that being evil means bad things happen to you, but its okay if you’re just getting revenge on karma’s behalf).

Oh, and because every once in a while, something like this happens. I’m not usually all big on the book deals. I mean, it’s awesome when author’s get them. It really, really is. It’s one of those things that gives the rest of us hope and a way to live vicariously. But Natalie Whipple is one of those authors whose blog I love reading because she’s got a great (grueling and frustrating, but amazing) publishing story, she’s got a great sense of humor, every once in a while she shares glimpses of that human side that makes people, well, human, and oh yeah, she’s an anime fan. (insert fan-girl squeal here). Oh, and she’s a local girl. Gotta cheer for those, right?

So I guess the point is, y’all are awesome, don’t ever turn normal, and <3 And go congratulate Natalie ^_^