How to Glow Up Your Life
Published on: 16 September 2024
The first time I was ever recognized for a piece of writing, I was about five or six years old. I’d written a piece about, wait for it…[drumroll please]…WORMS! My teacher was so impressed with my knowledge of worms and my descriptions of how they come out to play in the rain, and she showered me with lots of glowing praise, telling me how amazing my writing was.
I’ve come a long way from then. I had to glow up my writing from focusing on worms to writing about…well, anything else really. And I’m going to share with you the steps I took to glow up my life and live my dream of becoming an author. I hope they help you achieve your dreams too.
So, I have a secret acronym I use anytime I want something. It’s ‘DREAM’ and it stands for:
D – Decide what you want
There are all kinds of dreams: to be the first person in your family to go to uni, to become a race car driver, a pilot, a fashion designer, or even just live a happy, healthy life. It doesn’t have to be a huge dream. It just needs to be something that is important to you.This first step of deciding is very important because knowing what you want will tell you what actions to take next.
Example: If your dream is to become a doctor, your goals could be to:
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Pay attention in lessons
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Get good GCSE results, especially in the science subjects
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Study medicine at university
Another example: If your dream is to become an artist, your goals could be to:
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Save up to buy an art set
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Take an online art course
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Produce one piece of art every month
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Get your art into an art show
For Lara Bloom in my novel, she dreams of making it to 100 matches unbeaten with her football team. As a result, she needs to make sure her teamdoesn’t lose any matches, and she needs to score goals!
R – Respect yourself enough to take it seriously
Don’t say ‘things like [insert big hairy audacious dream] don’t happen to people like me.’ It’s easy to feel that way. I’ve felt that way too. I didn’t think I was good enough to get my writing published, so for many years I didn’t even bother to try. But as soon as I decided to actually go for it, everything fell into place for me, and a few years later my novel, Glow Up, Lara Bloom, hit the shelves!
E – Educate Yourself
Even though writing is my passion and I love it to pieces, I recognised that I couldn’t just write however I liked. I had to learn how to write well. I also had to learn about how to get published. I listened to podcasts, watched author interviews, and read lots of books. If you want to achieve a dream and glow up your life, learn as much as you can about the thing you want. Education is very important!
A – Act Like an Athlete
Something interesting about athletes, like runners, is that they train all by themselves, away from the TV cameras and the crowds. They push themselves to the limits in private for years on end, just to prepare for a race that barely lasts a few seconds (or minutes if they’re a long-distance runner). All the magic happens behind closed doors where there’s nobody to cheer them on. And repetition is key. Serious athletes do their drills and exercises over and over, every day. That’s how they get big results!
Basically, if you want to achieve something special that’s really important to you, act like an athlete and work on it over and over and over, not giving up. Get those reps in.
M – Make use of Mentors and Moral Support
You will need other people to achieve your dream: teachers, coaches, people who encourage you. Even the best athletes have coaches. So get help from people who’ve done what you want to do, or who know more about it than you.
Lots of people helped me with my dream of becoming an author. I found a mentor who was a published author. She read my novel and gave me lots of helpful feedback. I also got an agent who believed in my writing. My editor at my publisher was also a sort of mentor. She helped me improve Glow Up, Lara Bloom and make it the best it could be. Then there’s my bestie who has read pretty much everything I’ve ever written and is always demanding more of my stories. She really boosted my confidence. My husband also encouraged me to try and get an agent and not to give up on writing.
So, have a think about whose help you might need as you work towards achieving your dream/goals/glowed-up life and add them to your Glow Up Squad.
In my novel, Lara and her Glow Up Squad, i.e. her three besties, get makeovers, and Lara’s glow-up is all about becoming the best version of herself. Just so she can, you know, feel good about herself (it’s totally nothing to do with the new boy at school). Glow Up, Lara Bloom represents a big dream that I had for many years: to become a published author. Achieving it has shown me that when you stick with something and believe in yourself, anything can happen!
Topics: Bookbuzz
