Day Seven: The Courage of an Artist

            I had something really cool that I was going to talk about for today.  Thought of it while I was on my way to work. Now of course it’s gone, I forgot to write it down.  Classes are over, which is a relief to me.  Just one final exam next week and it will all be over.  I had one event that I had to attend last night, for my Fiction Workshop class.  I really didn’t want to go.  Not because I didn’t want to see the speaker, but because my brain felt like aliens were trying to eat it.  I don’t remember ever having a headache that bad.  I went to the event, head pounding and all, and to be very honest I’m glad I did.  The speaker was my Fiction Workshop professor (no he didn’t require us to go see him; it was just the one event that I could actually get to).  He was reading from his collection of short stories that had just been published.  The story he read was excellent, it captured me enough to forget about my aching head.  For a moment I could see myself on stage reading from my book.  I wanted to experience that moment of triumph.  My professor had told us to send a little email telling him that we had been at the reading and he would give us credit for the event.  I sent him one as soon as I got home thank him for being an inspiration.  I should have also added, “Thank you for having the courage to continue writing, even when it was hard, not knowing if you would be published, and for showing the writers in the audience that it can be done.”  I truly believe it takes a great amount of courage to create and maybe even more to put it out there for rejection or approval.  I think artists are some of the most courageous people I know.  Seeing my professor on stage gave me courage to keep writing.