The new year is ringing in. It’s 2024. The year of the dragon. With that, there are new tasks, challenges, and goals to complete, and we can accomplish them like the dragon finished his race: with strength and supporting others along the way. We’re all on the race of life together, some of us in (very) different lanes, but we are all human, and we should use our strength and support to get one another across the finish line. In this introduction to my budding blog, you'll learn a bit about me, see an iconic quote that I live by, and my view on why you should never put a limit on yourself.
About Me
My name is Sterling MZ, and I’m an editor, writer, runner, wife, traveler, and sweets-enthusiast. Professionally, I was the editor at independent publisher Brown Books in Dallas, Texas, for the past two years, and as of this writing, I'm currently starting my very first day in the world of freelance editing. Personally, I’ve been working on my writing in short stories, screenplays, and novels since middle school and have only grown in this love throughout college and beyond.
As a writer and aspiring author (currently working on my novel), I love helping others on their writing journey, so it’s no wonder I got into editing. What I’ve loved about working on books—especially nonfiction titles—the most is getting to really dive deep into the personal aspects of these authors. Who they are, all that they've done, and each feat they've accomplished contributes to their professional development. When you work on a diverse set of authors, all from different backgrounds, writing about completely different subject matter, inspiration is constant. So after years of thinking that a blog will be a “one of these days” things, I’ll be making that a reality starting today.
Topics of Interest
I’ve always been fascinated with writing, and with that, what other writers have to say. That's probably my favorite topic. It's what I spend my free time developing in and almost every moment of my time thinking about (especially at work, because that's the kind of editor that each author deserves). Reading is a close second, and my primary genre that I read is fantasy, hence why I'm so excited by the year of the dragon. I’m also a lover of fitness, cooking/baking, traveling, education, nature, film (especially animated movies), and more recently reflecting on ways that we can grow as people both professionally and personally. Over the course of this blog, I’ll be focusing mostly on my special interests.
But writers—people in general, really—are not one-dimensional. I can confidently say that I'm not one-dimensional, and I bet you aren’t either.
I live by the line "Nobody puts baby in a corner." Though I’ve never seen Dirty Dancing (can I even call myself a film-lover?), that’s exactly how I feel in writing and in life. No one should stop you from pivoting into a different avenue. The world is yours to explore. Go do it, and don't let anything stop you.
My mentality about doing and trying everything is how I've always thought—even when I was a toddler, apparently. My mom, just the other week, was telling me about this time I was maybe three or four. She was trying to get me to do less, and I argued with her, "But, Mom, you always said we should try everything."
Yes, everything.
I’m also the second of four siblings. All of us have grown up with unique interests and talents, and I’m grateful to my parents for never forcing us all to be in the same club, sports, subjects, what have you. (That's probably why my mom was so tired when I argued with her about doing everything.) My older sister is a military nurse, so biology and science have always been her wheelhouse. But she’s also a gifted artist! Throughout pursuing her technical degrees and professional career, she’s started a small art side business (check her out at @goldfishcreatesart), and I've always admired her for that.
No one told her what she could or couldn’t be, and it’s really worked for her. No one ever told me that either, and when they did—as you saw above—I didn't listen. I’m a determined person, not stubborn, because I refuse to be “put in a corner.” The world is round for a reason, is it not? It’s human nature to explore; we should leave room for ourselves to do so.
You can count on me for writing advice as both a lifelong writer and author with still more to learn but is always seeking to improve, and as an editor who’s helped shape other people’s books to be in a great, market-ready position. You can also count on me to only post content that I’m passionate about, whether is the above-mentioned topics or a random deep-dive I get into one day on something that I didn’t know I was interested until I knew I wanted to know more about it.
Goals
Only in copyediting and proofreading am I a perfectionist. For writing and content, I’m a qualityist (new term, coining now!). We’re all searching for high quality content that drives our interest and gives us some thoughts or feelings after we finish reading it. My promise is to provide that to you, and to myself, in whatever I write, whenever I write. I say to both because as a writer, we are our own worst critics. If I can enjoy something before putting it out, I’m hoping you can too. And even if it’s not your favorite, that’s okay. That’s why art is subjective—one person loves something another dislikes, one day something hits just right , and another time, it doesn’t. The most important part about creating is that the quality is good, even if it doesn’t match all the preferences of the individual reader. Personally, I’ll feel better about a book that I didn’t enjoy if I can at least say that the writing was good, it just didn’t work for me. That only means the author wrote the perfect book for somebody else.
I’d like to say that I will post content X amount of times per week, and while I’d love to stick to that, life is . . . well, life. I’m still human, and on this road of freelance editing, writing, blogging, and content creation, I'm going to stick to a schedule as best I can, but what I can promise you is not a frequency of posts, but good, well-thought out posts whenever I do post.
I think of blogs as a potential way to showcase love languages, especially words of affirmation, quality time, and acts of service. The first one is a given. The second and third a little less so, but it boils down to this: I hope you leave feeling like I provided you a service and made you feel a bit more confident, content, or good about what's going on—which is how I feel each time after receiving quality time or an act of service from a friend or loved one.
Open Invitation
My hope is that, with each post, you’ll get something out of it and maybe want to engage with it or with me. If you’re interested in staying up-to-date with my blogs, I’ll be posting them on Medium and on my website here, www.SterlingMZ.com. You can also find me on Instagram where I’ll post more on my personal writing journey, some blog-related content, and an occasional life-update or two. Through any of these platforms, your welcome to DM/email me if you’re interested in my take for anything that I’m writing on.
We are already a month into 2024. Be strong with the goals you started last month, be consistent, be helpful, and be kind—like the dragon was during the race. Without maintaining our values, the goal gets lost in the noise and loses its meaning. That’s not what I want, for myself or anyone, as I set off on this journey in 2024 to make writing my full-time career. Whether that’s your trajectory, too, or it’s something else, kindness, support, and encouraging consistency are what will help us make our aspirations our reality. The more kindness there is and the more we support each other’s goals, the more we can understand one another—and that’s what will move us all across the finish line.
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