My Twitter feed is heavy on literary agents, authors and emerging writers. Lately, there has been a wave of announcements about new contracts, sold manuscripts and novel publication dates. I heart them all. I am genuinely happy for them and cannot wait for the day when others get to be happy for me.
Yes, Summer Adriana is once again resplendent with faith, chill vibes and hope. Spring Adriana, however, would have closed the app and cried her little eyes out in despair. At least twice. There’s only so much you can muster when there is so little confirmation from the outside world that your voice is being heard.
By the time I left for Madeira, my perspective was in desperate need of reframing. The light and ocean absolutely refreshed my patience, allowing me to understand that while I may not recognized and adored by [gestures broadly], my writing is seen and appreciated every day by people I love and that counts for a lot.
For every Substack article I send, for every poem I share on Instagram, and even for the bite-sized memories I post on Facebook, friends and acquaintances will always reach out to tell me how it resonated, what detail they liked most, or how they would like to apply similar thinking to their own situations. One friend regularly replies to the Substack email with “I enjoyed this” (no punctuation) and it makes my day every time.
I may not have a literary agent or a published novel on the way (yet) but I do get feedback and love for my writing. It may not be public, but it’s genuine and infused with the same love I sent those words out into the universe with.
And that, my friends, is a massive win.
We cannot be so fixated on the goal that we forget to celebrate all the little wins along the way—the wins that, incidentally, pave the wave to that ultimate goal. So while I wait for my bigger vision to unfold, I take great pleasure in all the small moments I rack up along the way. To know that my writing resonated with one person means the world. Everyone and everything after that is gravy.
Are you struggling with a lack of public recognition for your writing?
What helps you shift perspective?