Leon R.M. Auguste

To be a new writer is to be born into this world for the first time ever.

It is to experience the wonders of such light and dark places. It is a thrill, a wave of feelings and emotions which drown you until you are reborn again, over and over. The process never changes, and the feelings never fade away. Yet new emotions will always take over old ones, making your heartbeat wildly with silent joy, with unheard excitement, with untold fears. It all builds up in momentum and tempo as you begin your journey with gusto and zeal.

To be a new writer means to stumble and make mistakes.

Mistakes, however, need to be made. Because without errors, there is no progress. Without imperfections, you will never attain the true potential housed deep within your heart, soul, and mind. Therefore, to stumble recklessly and with feverish devout is to be a new writer.

To find your voice and your path is what makes us new writers.

To see other people for the first time, to really see them, is what makes us new writers.

We may never meet, yet I feel as though I’ve known you my whole life. We share an interest, a singular experience known to us as writing. What makes us so unique is this experience alone. We are the scholars of the world, the educators of generations yet to come into existence, and the dreamers for those who are not fortunate enough.

We teach others what life is truly all about. To remind people that if we were to lose everything; society, materialism, structure – all there is to life is us.

Us; who have felt naked and lost for centuries upon centuries.

Us; who have been misunderstood by those who are not in touch with their human emotions and thoughts.

Us; the truth seekers of the very fabrications that make up our collective existence.

This is what it means to be a new writer.

It is to be human.

This picture you see in the header is the very same one I took one year ago when I embarked on my final journey to become a writer for life. I’ve never looked back since that day I made this singular promise with myself. Life has never been the same since then.

I can feel the sun’s rays falling on my shoulders as I make my way down this familiar path.

This place, which I will not name, is the single place I come to whenever I have the free time to do so. To be able to wander and imagine all the different worlds and lives I can experience life through. To be lucky enough to see other people for who they indeed are at the core of their beings. To find strange and quizzical creatures who have a mind of their own.

The gardens I walk through are timeless and without a single care in the world for humans. Yet, the lake of clear water that resides in this mysterious place holds a special place in my soul. The forests I can explore with my imagination. All these sights take me to places I never knew existed.

I can only imagine what life would be like if I never began writing.

I would probably never know the true meaning of friendship or the absolute depths of hard-earned love. I would have never sought out to make a difference in this very estranged world. I would have never felt the need to stop time in my life and truly work on the only thing that has ever held any relevance in the world of reality.

Because in the end, all that really matters is you and I.

Do not ever forget yourself or the power you hold deep inside. Because at the end of the day, only our memories and emotions matter. Those who have passed, and those yet to arrive, are the only things worth fighting for in this life.

Forever in Your Debt,

Leon R.M. Auguste

Photo credit: (picture taken by me)