An Epiphany

Last night, I had an epiphany – and it came from, of all places, the movie “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.”

Now I admit to having seen this movie before, and truly not thinking much of it. As a refresher, the movie is about one Mr. Magorium, the owner of a magical toy shop, and the way he goes about passing that toy shop on to his chosen heir, Molly Mahoney. At one point, Magorium gives Molly a “Congreve cube” – a wooden block – telling her as he does so: “Just think what it could do if someone believed in it.”

And therein lays the moral behind this story. You see, Molly doesn’t believe she has the ability to run the magical toy shop, and it’s not enough for her that other people continue to affirm their belief that she can. It isn’t until the accountant, Henry (nicknamed “Mutant”) points out that she needs to believe in herself that the toy shop comes gloriously alive for Molly.

And that was my epiphanic moment. You see, as a writer, it is important to have people who believe in my ability, just as Molly had people who believed in hers. But even more important, perhaps most important, for a writer, is the need to believe in yourself. Yes, it can be a struggle to maintain that belief. Boy, have I ever been there. But, when all is said and done, I’ve now come to understand that it is faith in myself and my abilities more than anything else that will keep me scribbling away for a long, long time.