Is This Story Worth It?

Is this something you not only want to share, but need to share?

Will it cause change— change that can be felt physically, mentally or emotionally?

Does the story make you laugh or cry?

Does this story take a piece of you, or does it add something to you?

Is it a story you want to hear at a party? Is it a story you desperately hope to remember?

Is this story tense and do you hope for resolution? Do the characters deserve a happy ending?

Does this story make you proud of the characters—will you cry at their moment of triumph like a proud parent?

Would you go to war over this story?

Would hearing that this story was destroyed forever in a fire devastate you?

Could you look back and say that this was the story that changed everything?

Would you listen to this story late at night under a blanket while jazz music plays?

Does it build suspense? Is it a page-turner? Would you lose sleep over this story? Would you abandon work and obligation to finish this story?

Is it a place of beauty in its words and images? Does that beauty stay with you after you leave the story?

When all of this is over, will you need time to recover from this story? Will you be unable to move the moment it ends? Will you sit there, unable to process everything and feel the weight of the story? Will you know that this will take years to process and feel in that moment that the story will evolve with you with each retelling in your head? Does it seem that from the moment this story began it was destined to become a part of you?

Are you not sure you can handle this story? Might it destroy you?

Is this story worth it?

Then begin…