Why Writers Need to Take Chances

This is a transcript of my YouTube video.


Don't be afraid!
Take chances!
People have given this advice tons of times; they have given it to me tons of times. And yet... I have never actually taken any of this advice. Until... a few weeks ago.
When I went to Dragon*Con here in Atlanta, there was this writing panel that I really wanted to go to. It talked about the industry, it talk about writing YA books... it was everything that I needed to-- wanted to hear!-- right at this moment in my career. And so I rushed to try to find this panel. My husband and I ran all over two different hotels, across tons of busy streets with tons of sticky nerds trying to find the panel.
And then, there it was! We finally found it! I was so excited! And there was a sign outside the door the said...
Panel Full.
...
Uh... okay....
I was so irritated. I was tired. My feet were hurting that day because I wore the wrong shoes to this sort of convention. I was so upset and my husband could just see it in my eyes. I. Was. Furious!
Not too long later, a man and his son came by and saw this dreadful sign....
Yeah. Panel still full.
They had the same looks on their faces that I had. It was really irritating that we traveled really, really far, crossing all these busy streets with tons of people everywhere just to be told that the panel was full.
Well, my husband, being the wonderful man that he is, told me that I should go in anyway, and stand in the back. Sit on the floor. DO SOMETHING! In my head, the type of person I am is, "No, it says the panel is full. It says I shouldn't go in. I can't go in. IT'S FULL!
But he would not listen to me. My husband went over to the door, he opened it, peeped inside and said, "Yeah, there's people standing in the back, we should go stand in the back."
By this point the man and his son had left with sad faces and I did not want to leave with a sad face. So, my heart beating, everything in my head saying, "No! You're not supposed to go into the panel!" I went into the panel. And you know what happened?
It was okay.
I went in. I stood in the back really quietly and just paid close attention to what the panelists were saying. I listened to every single word and even by the end of the panel I asked a question which was answered for me.
Afterwards, I stood out in the hallway with my husband and just thought, Nobody kicked me out. It said panel was full but they didn't kick me out. I just got very valuable information that could possibly help me progress my journey of publication.
I was dumbfounded. I could not believe it! And what I learned from it, aside from all of the information that the panelists had to give, was I should take chances. You need to take chances to further your career. Go outside of your comfort zone.
I have a feeling that if I continuously step outside of my comfort zone more opportunities will open up. I will have more chances of getting published. My dreams may come true if I take more chances.
Don't worry about what other people say. I'm still working on this myself. But by just being me and being the person that I want to be and following my dreams I have already felt this huge weight lift off my shoulders. All because I don't care and I take chances.
My advice is, if you love writing then you should write. Write in your own way. Put you on the page. No one knows your style better than you.
So take chances. Go on out right now. I want you to go out and take a chance. Take a chance and make your dreams come true.