There’s a monster in my closet and it’s got some green-ass eyes. Sometimes jealousy climbs up my back like a scaly beast, digs its claws into my shoulders and wiggles in to get comfy. “Look at her hair,” it says, “Way prettier than yours.” Or he’ll tickle my ear with this little tidbit: “Check out her body! Bet you wish you looked like that.” But because writing is my passion, that green-eyed monster’s favourite nagging point is the successful writing of others.

A friend of mine, whose writing I respect immensely, recently launched a blog. Her writing is quality, her topics, interesting, and her perspectives, profound. For International Women’s Week, she wrote a post a day, while juggling work and school. The response she got to her blog overwhelmed and encouraged her. It overwhelmed me too, but I was not encouraged. I thought, damn, look at her out here succeeding, and my blog is as dead as three-week-old road kill.