Me? Extraordinary?

I have had many moments where I felt extraordinary: when I won a race at school, when my husband told me he wanted to marry me (Huh? Someone wants to marry me?), when I had each of my kids, whenever I have roast duck vermicelli (always an extraordinary experience!). But there’s one in particular that I want to share.

It was a freezing cold day in December here in the UK, and I must have been bored, or fed up with the degree I was studying for, or both. But anyway, I picked up a pen and a notebook and started writing. I’d always been a creative person; I wrote songs for my church choir, I wrote poems sometimes, I’d written some short stories. But each time I tried to write a novel it didn’t work out. Anyway, I didn’t think anything would come of this latest attempt, but I just needed to write something, create something, use the right side of my brain rather than the left. You see, I was studying molecular biology and genetics at university, and it was interesting, but I was at a point where I was done with pushing down my flighty, and slightly whacky, artsy side and forcing myself to be sensible and practical and scientific. I don’t know exactly what triggered me that day, but I wrote to my heart’s content.

It became like therapy. Each day I would go to university and endure classes about DNA and RNA. But in the evening I would work on my novel and get my creative release.

Nine months later, in the middle of the night, I wrote two words that caused what felt like a rip-tide of wonder, joy and downright giddiness. They were: The End. By then, my novel filled about fifteen notebooks. I stared at them in awe. I couldn’t believe I had written a whole book. It was an amazing wow moment. And I truly felt extraordinary. Like, I have never attended a writing workshop, I know nothing about story structure, character arcs, foreshadowing, layering of themes, etc, but I have written a book!

In that moment I felt like superwoman, like the world was my oyster, like I had found my purpose. And purpose is what makes me feel extraordinary. I have a reason for being here and a mission to accomplish. So many things now make sense too: my overactive imagination, my obsession with language and words, and my introversion. They all feed into my writing. I used to feel ordinary. In fact, less than ordinary. Why couldn’t I be like everyone else? Chatty, bubbly, gregarious. Now I know why. Because I wouldn’t write if I was like that. I need to daydream, I need to think and make up people and scenarios. And it makes me feel absolutely extraordinary!

About Dayo Benson

Dayo Benson is passionate about using fiction to convey powerful messages about redemption and God’s love. She is the author of the Beauty for Ashes Series, Pure Passion Series, Drew Ashley series, and a number of standalone novels. When she is not writing she enjoys music, reading and going for long walks. She lives in North West England with her husband and their two beautiful daughters. Find out more about Dayo and her books at www.dayobenson.com.

P.S. The first book in her Beauty for Ashes Series is currently free on Amazon!