Hello, friends! Welcome to this month’s meeting of the Insecure Writers’ Support Group, a blog hop created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by Rebecca Douglass, Natalie Aguirre, Cathrina Constantine, and Louise Barbour. Are you a writer? Do you feel insecure? Well, then this is the support group for you! Click here to learn more!
A long time ago, I was talking to some friends about space. I don’t remember what space thing I was talking about, specifically; I just remember it was something I didn’t understand at the time, and I was trying to learn more about it. Anyway, I was telling my friends about all the work I was doing, trying to learn about this one specific space thing, and I guess my enthusiasm was showing, which prompted one of my friends to say: “You make me want to go learn stuff.”
To this day, I still consider that to be the single nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. I love space, obviously, but even more than that, I love learning. That’s what drives me to be a writer. On a superficial level, I write because I want to share my love of space with others, and I want to show off some of the cool space facts I’ve learned over the years. But on a deeper, more fundamental level, I write because I want to show people that learning is fun, that learning creates joy. Yes, learning can be hard sometimes, but the struggle of learning a difficult or complicated thing increases the joy when you finally do understand that thing.
Writing is not always easy for me. Sometimes I get discouraged. Sometimes I get frustrated. Sometimes I wonder: “Why am I doing this?” But that thing my friend said to me, all those years ago, is a good reminder: “You make me want to go learn stuff.”
I realize not everybody loves space as much as I do, and I realize not everybody wants to learn everything there is to know about space the way I do. But if you read any of my stuff, and if you still don’t care much about space, then I hope I can at least inspire you to go learn stuff about the things you do care about, the things that do interest you, the things that you do love.
The art in today’s post—that drawing of a brain hovering over an open book—is my own original work. If you like my art, please consider checking out the I-Love-Space store on RedBubble. Shopping on RedBubble is a great way to support artists (like me!) so that we can keep doing what we do. Thank you!
i-love-space.com 
Then you need to write a book that teaches space stuff in a fun way!
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Oh believe me, that is definitely on the list of things I want to do!
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I agree — that’s about the best compliment you can be given! I been teaching for the last 7 years and getting kids to light up about a subject, there isn’t much better.
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100% agree! I don’t work in education, but my current job does involve training interns and new employees. It’s my favorite part of the job.
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It’s great how your friend’s comment has helped inspire you to continue writing.
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Yeah, it’s one of those little moments that made a big difference.
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I was lucky enough to get into a program my freshman year in college where, instead of taking the usual general-ed science course, I was in a cohort where we had a course on cosmology. It supplemented my career reading science fiction through high school.
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That’s awesome, and I’m super jealous. I had friends who took astronomy in college, but it never worked out for me to get into a class like that.
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I don’t know much about space but then again, I may have learned a couple of things reading books but completely forgotten them. Learning is what everyone does even if they don’t know it but you’re right, some things are harder to learn than others but I do keep on learning even if I only learn a minuscule of things.
Have a lovely day.
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Learning is one thing, but retaining that information is another. It’s an ongoing process, but it’s worth it!
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Some of us might not like space as much as you do, but above our heads is beauty, wonder and an endless sky. Who doesn’t love that? hehehe
I love to learn too. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
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There’s so much beautiful stuff up there! I recently got to show the stars to someone who, due to light pollution, had never really seen them before. It was a wonderful experience for both of is.
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What a great goal/purpose for your writing! I often like to think I want to touch people in some way, but I like your goal even better.
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Thanks! I think we’re all in this because we want to touch our readers in some way. It’s only recently that I figured out, more specifically, what I want my readers to come away with.
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What a nice compliment. I can feel your love of space. Ever considered writing a series of chapter books about space? With your obvious enthusiasm I can see the books helping inspire and engage kids to love and learn more about space. So much even that they’ll even go for space related careers.
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I hadn’t thought about that, but that sounds like a great idea!
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Fascinating. I think it’s amazing the power in the things we say to other people. A single comment can change the trajectory of someone’s life, as it has done yours. Good on you for following the inspiration.
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Thanks! Yeah, one offhand remark can really affect somebody’s life. You never know.
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that’s really neat when a person loves learning continously. I’ve always loved learning. I like learning about space too, especially black holes and distant galaxies. But my biggest learning love as far as science goes is computer technology, past, present and future. Lately, it’s been inspiring a lot of the fiction that I write.
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That’s great! I wish I knew more about computers. That is something I probably should work on.
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Fascinante 💯
Un saludo 🌞🌈
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Thanks!
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