Last
week I was conversing with my cousin – likely about my
at-a-standstill writer-teacher life – when she made a comment that
took me back to the near-beginning of my writing career.
“You
gotta get it while the going's good,” she advised. “Because you
never know when your chance will come back around.”
The
point resonated even deeper a few days later when I read about
author, writer, and relationships and life coach Demetria Lucas D'Oyley's first appearance on the Today Show. She recalled how
she happened to be watching a live-stream conference that same day of
another entrepreneur, who also appeared on Today, and he discussed
the significance of that experience.
“...everyone
doesn't get to the Today Show,” he said. “It's a huge
opportunity, and you have about six weeks to capitalize on it.”
Six weeks.
Six weeks.
He and
my cousin are both right, though.
In
2013, I pitched a story about how comfortable others were with
pointing out how skinny I was – as if I were oblivious to the fact
that I stood 5'11'' and wore a size 2 4 – and they
seriously scrutinized how much I ate and criticized my occasional
mile walk around my apartment complex.
The
story was picked up and reprinted on another site that I really
wanted to write for, so I pitched a separate story on my failed journey from relaxed hair to natural hair and back again to the
second publication. That pitch was accepted also.
Around
midnight, a day after it went live, I read a tweet posted by The
Root that simply read along the lines of “not everyone can go
natural.”
My
immediate thought was Ahh shiiiit! In a good way. Well, kinda, because I knew the topic was a sensitive – oftentimes, heated – one. But, I knew it
was about me. That personal essay went "viral," and those two stories
combined increased my Twitter following so quickly that I had
to turn off my email notifications!
A few
weeks after the “Back to my Roots” piece, I got an offer to cover
a natural hair event in New York City. I remember joking with my
friends that this must be a set up because they know I now got a perm!*
Then I
thought, “New Yawk City!” in that voice from the hot sauce
commercial.**
I
relished the idea of playing TV host on a red carpet. If only I had
the means to travel to NYC. Or maybe the client can pay my travel
expenses from VA to NY!
Or
not.
But
there immediately came another awesome opportunity that didn't
require me to spend money I didn't have or leave home.
I
received a tweet from someone at Huffington Post Live asking
if I wanted to
And
this should've been the part when I say, “And my career took off.”
But I
was offline – no cell phone, no internet – for several days. By
the time I saw the tweet, the program had aired, most likely on
another topic since I was MIA.
And so
here is where my 3-month-old writing career kinda sizzled, crashed,
and burned instead. I missed out. Twice.
Now
it's 2015. I haven't published anything else with as much “oomph!”
as those written pieces. Okay, I haven't published anything else.
At all.
Period.
At least not personal essays.
At all.
Period.
At least not personal essays.
I'm a
two-hit wonder.
With
no definite idea of when I'll regain that momentum.
“It
could be another 15 years,” my cousin warned as she continued with
her advice.
The
devil is a liar, as would be her response to any negative declaration.
I'm
not waiting 15 years to relaunch my career. Right now is one of those
times I believe in do-overs.
I
periodically scope my social media follows and friendships and
college alum connections, and I spy, through my laptop-fatigued eyes,
prominent writers and magazine editors. From fancy glossies, at that!
In
retrospect, I wasn't ready to reap any rewards two years ago. (I
promise you, alliteration was not my intent in that sentence.) I
mean, I didn't even know what to expect as a published writer. I
never really thought to myself, People are really gonna read your
stories, offer you jobs, and invite you to interview and host gigs!
It
never dawned on me until much later that the more I got my face and
name out there, the sooner I may graduate from pitching to editors to
snagging assignments from editors. Or that if I fall back, folks are
going to forget all about me and my two pieces of humor!
So now
I'm back, starting from scratch, on my pitching and blogging grind
because I have both a base audience that matters and the thorough
understanding that one ordinary accomplishment can actually lead to
extraordinary opportunities.
But
only if you're available to accept them and wise enough to multiply
them.
*To
clear up any confusion, we sometimes use the terms “perm” and
“relaxer” interchangeably, although, technically, relaxers
straighten and perms tightly curl.
**That
was a Texas Pete commercial, right?
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