Validation and Gift Certificates

One of the things about starting to write again after a long absence (years, dear friends) is that you tend to take every opportunity to hone your skills. Recently I wrote in this blog about International Fluevog Day, that day every year devoted to all things Fluevog-shoe related. One of the things I didn't mention in that post, though, was that I had submitted an entry on Fluevog's Facebook page for their "2011 Top 15 Reasons To Love Fluevog". The idea was that you submitted a comment and others on Facebook would "like" your comment. The top-rated comment would receive Fluevog dollars (to buy new Vogs!), and the top 15 would become the official list for 2011. Note that Fluevog has fans from all over the world, so the entries to the contest came in from far and wide, and in the end there were 250 comments to choose from. This weekend I was delighted to open up Facebook and see this:

Yes, dear friends, that's me at #3! Now, I do owe thanks to some of my wonderful Facebook friends who responded to my plea to help me boost my stats, but I was also delighted that many of the "likes" that helped me make it to that position came from total strangers. It seems they just liked what I wrote, and I can't tell you how that pleases me. As someone who is trying to "kickstart" their writing and maybe even turn it into a paying job that sort of validation is hugely important. We all want to know that what we do is appreciated, of course. Some things,  though, like writing or painting or playing an instrument, are often so close to our heart that not only do they need validation they need to be coddled a bit, too. They are tender at first, and rather tentative until we find our stride and can take criticism that earlier in the adventure would have proven too great a blow. I have been fortunate to have received great encouragement from others with both this blog and my other new writing projects. I feel I have begun to find my stride and now have enough confidence to take any arrows that may be launched at my writing (and by extension at my heart, because that's where I write from, dear friends).

I was especially delighted to receive an e-mail from Fluevog informing me that I have also been awarded a $100 gift certificate from Fluevog. I've had my eye on a new pair of Vogs and I'm thinking that while that $100 won't pay for the pair I can spring for the rest (let's call it a birthday gift to myself as that happens to be occurring this week, too). I also realized I owe something to my 11-year old daughter who inspired my comment to Fluevog. While I won't be giving her any of my shoes (!) I think I will take her out and buy her a new pair of her own, too. I suppose I feel I have been validated as a writer, and now it's my turn to validate her. What am I validating? A love of shoes, I guess, and the fact that her mother loves her. Shoes, love, validation, and gift certificates. It's already been a helluva week, dear friends....

John Fluevog : Truth, Pilgrim - My Self-Awarded Validation