Keep Calm and Write On! Part 2/3

It’s not that I insist on mostly using Harry Potter references. Sometimes things are just better explained with the poetic metaphors of J.K Rowling.

One of my favorite magical artifacts from the books and movies has always been, the Hogwarts’s Mirror of Erised. This magic mirror shows the user his or her heart’s deepest desire. When Harry used it the first time, he could see his dead parents standing next to him.

J.K Rowling once explained that the happiest man (or woman) on earth would be able to use this mirror like a normal one. He would look into it and see himself exactly as he is.

In the past weeks, there were three times where I felt that if I had The Mirror of Erised with me, it would show me just my reflection in that exact moment. In those three events during November, my magical mirror was a normal one.

During October, I sent 3 invitations to 3 different groups of girlfriends to attend reading parties, my reading parties in November. The idea was to share chapters of my non-fiction book and get their first impressions and feedback. I was lucky enough to share my writing with friends in Barcelona, Mexico, and Honduras, and it was a dream come true.

The reading parties surpassed my expectations, not just because they took it extremely seriously (I love them so much for that!), but because they were so invested. They were so open at sharing their thoughts, so honest at sharing their opposing views. They were direct yet gentle when they told me, “in this chapter you need to dig deeper” or “are you absolutely sure you want to share such a personal anecdote?

The reading parties were filled with hugs, tears, stories, realizations, wine, cheeseboards, pajamas, pictures, questions, more cheese, and many laughs.

The interactions, conversations, and feedback fueled my dream; it was more than just validation, it was a sublime sense of certitude of what the future can look like.

It was an intense “Keep Calm (no matter how hard it gets) and Write on.”

I want to thank my girlfriends, for taking the time, for sharing, and oversharing, for the challenging questions, the feedback but above all for being remarkable life cheerleaders.

This post is dedicated to my fearless girls: A, A, C, C, M, C, G & J.