Better Than Butter

Even though I have self-published three books, I have never entered a writing contest. I give credit to my best friend, Olivia for referring the contest for You Are Enough hosted by Positive Writer. She is one of those friends who never thinks she is good enough, yet makes me feel like a million bucks. And so, I am participating in this contest, not to win, but to show her, we are all good enough. And because she is an "in-the-closet" writer doesn't make her any less of one. 

Just yesterday, after talking to one of my writer friends, he told me he was giving up on love. My heart cracked. A truly loving, caring man, who listens to my concerns and tears, confesses his surrender to loneliness. After sending him a virtual hug and telling him he deserves love, I sent him off into the day with this, "I'll pray your heart stays soft like butter." He reassured me he would be weary of knives, toast and biscuits. I told him love is all on how you spread it. I think he liked that.

He's been writing and his love is spreading on pages.

I am a firm believer that love fixes everything. Not a fake love that merely consists of four letters, but of Love, Openness, Virtue, Empathy. Love begins with a "feeling" and in that stage we are open with our love and we feel that person loves us unconditionally. Those people accept us and make us feel enough. Think about the friends you have had for twenty plus years. They LOVE you. With virtue from the love of others, we are enough. Like my friend Oliva, her and I have been friends for over twenty years. We connected right away. We accepted each other from day one. She wasn't and isn't just good enough for me, but for herself. She has always listened to me. She is my "person." And even with our diverse views on many aspects in life, she empathizes when I come to her with tears, laughter, anger, etc. This type of love makes me know I am enough. She is enough. We all are enough. 

After the decision to release my first book, Olivia was the first to know. Although she is hardly ever constructive, only intrigued, she is quite the muse. She tends to love everything I write.

No matter what our driving force is, Love is responsible. Whether it is for food, children, hobbies, or hanging on to a love or a loss of one. Writers write what inspires them, what hurts them.

Because deep down, we all know we are enough. Good enough to write a masterpiece or simply to watch words become more on paper than they ever could have been, locked inside the mind. 

I have this saying, "We all have a story to tell, but not everybody will write it."  However, writers must. It is the only way to grow and release. If you are a writer, don't hold your thoughts. It is like holding your breath. You must let go, to receive. And if you really want to be heard, you must spread the love of your words.

Get you an Olivia and a guy writer friend.

Come on, everybody loves buttered biscuits.

Hannah B. Akers