My stories didn’t fit
inside traditional publishing.
I struggled for years
to make them fit,
eventually published through
the big New York publishers,
but I had to change my stories
to do that.
Then, after EVERY publisher relationship
I was currently in
imploded,
all for reasons
beyond my direct control,
I said “F*ck it”
and created my own place
within the industry,
a place where I could write
the books I really wanted to write
the way I wanted to write them.
I haven’t looked back.
Whoopi Goldberg,
on Oprah’s Master Class,
shares
“I just wanted
to work as an actor.
I wasn’t able
to get a lot of jobs
outside of the group I was in.
And at the time
people didn’t really think
young women of color
could do a lot.
I don’t know what that means
but I know that I had to write a show
so they could see
what I was capable of doing.
And in it,
there was the valley girl
and the little old lady
and the lady with the disability
and all of the characters I created.
So I came to New York
and I did it.
And for the first two days,
no one came.
And then an amazing review
got written.
Then the next thing I knew
Bette Midler was in the audience.
Then there was 15 people
in the audience.
Then 30.
Then we were at full capacity.”
There is a role for you
in the world,
a role that is tailored suited
just for your unique outlook and skills.
That role doesn’t currently exist, however.
You have to create it.