Today, for Day 2, the word is BRAVERY. I’m not afraid to take risks in my writing. Conflict is essential to writing something interesting and exhilarating. It’s also essential to be captivated by what you’re reading. I want to stand out and make my writing shine. I make a point of including conflict to make endings more magical. My characters struggle through dilemmas and emotions; they also consider ways to overcome struggles. Sometimes that isn’t possible, and that’s what makes for more emotional, substantial details that lend themselves well to pulling at readers’ heartstrings and making them feel deeply for my characters.

I wouldn’t want the characters I read about to be any different than the ones I write about in terms of the levels of conflict that ensue. It is imperative to good writing and good reading that the writer and readers can relish the moment when a character makes the right decision and be angry when a character does something wrong, at least in a reader’s estimation. Reading is subjective, and one reader may love the way an author pens his work while another may think it could have been crafted in a stronger way. Writers are brave. They take risks that may or may not have them see any payoff. Readers are also brave. They try out new books, new authors, and new circumstances all the time, hoping to find stories that enlighten and sustain them through good and bad times in their lives.

Bravery is not something to be taken for granted. We, as writers and readers, must focus on moving forward. Writing more, reading more, and focusing on what we love about those two mediums will only hone our bravery and make us stronger and wiser, as well as more graceful versions of ourselves.