The Eye of the Tiger

By Nikki Wilson

One of the best parts of being a writer is getting to critique and edit books for your friends that no one else has read yet. Recently I was critiquing my friend's book (I call it the evil, twisted circus story, and I love it!) Well in the book a  girl is at this carnival and suddenly she sees a big beautiful tiger walking towards an unsuspecting person. She starts to cry out when someone else walks up the tiger and kicks it and tells it to get lost. Now I don't know about you, but kicking a tiger just doesn't sound like a good idea to me. But this tiger just tucks it's tail between it's legs and whimpers as it looks at it's attacker with big sad puppy dog eyes. The girl is confused about this and finds out that the carnival got the tiger when it was a cub and they put it with a litter of puppies. They raised it like a mongrel and abused it until the tiger believed it WAS a mongrel.

Well this story of the tiger hit me kind of hard. Because I immediately drew the conclusion that Satan is like the evil carnival owner telling us that we are useless mongrels because if we ever figured out that we are tigers, we would destroy him. 

I thought about how this is true in my writing life. I have a voice in my head that constantly tells me my writing isn't good enough yet. Sometimes the voice even goes so far as to say that it will never be good enough. I kick myself down so often it's a miracle I keep trying to get back up. When I saw myself in this light I realized something. I'm sick of being a mongrel with a broken spirit. I want to be a fierce, magnificent tiger. I want to bare my teeth and sharpen my claws and I want to get in there in fight for my dreams. I want to work hard and reach for my potential.

My son is playing high school football again this year, and he sometimes gets frustrated when he doesn't get in the game. He works hard at practice, but sometimes finds himself on the sidelines watching everyone else play. I feel this way sometimes with my writing too. Many of my friends are published now and are definitely in the game of being an author. I'm still on the sidelines. But the thing about the people on the sidelines is that they eventually get hungry enough to do whatever it takes to get in the game. I am ready to get in the game. I'm ready to buckle down and give it all I got. I'm done listening to the voice that says I'm no good. I'm done being kicked. I'm done watching everyone else play the game. It's time for me to make it happen. Who else needs to find their inner tiger and fight for their dreams? Let's do it together!