Ten things I haven’t told you about myself

And how this shy girl is learning new things

Thanks for the mention KD Murray I didn’t think I’d have enough things to say. Truth is if it weren’t for my writing journey I wouldn’t have been able to list ten things. Honest.

Here we go.

ONE I fall in love easily with ordinary kindness

There I was, working on my garden while I looked forward to retiring from my soon to be 20years of teaching Japanese children to sing easy songs, to recognize common vocabulary words, to distinguish and put together easy words into coherent English sentences when my husband gave me his old, still fully functional iPad. He had offered to buy me a new one many times before but I never wanted to get sucked into ‘needing’ something as vain as an electronic device.

“Ok, I’ll take it,” I said, unsure I could convince myself to make good use of it.

And that’s how it began.

Never attracted to the tube, electronic gadgets or to talking on the telephone, the hand-me-down lay dormant until one fine day husband came home and introduced me to internet radio. Now, listening to the radio, that was something I loved doing. As such, I already had a radio and favorite programs I listened to every day. But yeah, internet radio appealed to me.

Anyway, with the advent of internet radio, it didn’t take me long to learn about podcasts. My sons then helped me to discover iTunes and audiobooks. It was then that I fell in love with the iPad and it became an indispensable piece of treasure for me.

* I mention this as the first item on my list of ten things I want to tell you about myself because this very acceptance has been the reason for where I am in my life today.

TWO Sarah

I would be doing Sarah a disservice if I didn’t tell you that she was the one who told me repeatedly that I was a Writer (with a capital W).

What? You don’t know which Sarah I’m talking about? For sure you must know Sarah Rhea Werner of Write Now Podcast. If you don’t, please look her up and give her a listen. In an authentic, shooting voice she’ll do the same for you. She is one generous human!

So yeah. First, there was my husband, then there was an old iPad >> then came internet radio and podcasts >> one of those podcasts brought me to The Write Practice, my writing community responsible for making me open a Facebook account in order to participate in an internet writing competition where-I-met-the-amazing Jewel Eliese who-told-me-about The Tribe Builders Network which Jeff Goins had also mentioned to me in one of his newsletters.

* Phew, please don’t forget to breathe.

Oh. My. Gosh! Yes, a long introduction that needed to be revealed in order to give you the updated version of my true story.

Sarah is also responsible for encouraging me to start a website. Start it — I did. Promoting it — that’s taking me longer to do.

Onward to three.

THREE Indeed!

In the spring of 2017, I entered my first-ever writing contest at The Write Practice (TWP). The experience left me wanting more and it was then I knew that Sarah R. Werner was right. I am a Writer indeed!

But, I couldn’t tell anyone this yet. First I needed to feel comfortable in my skin. I started practicing in earnest at TWP because practice is what I needed the most.

Two months later, when Joe Bunting, the big guy at TWP, informed me that I was ready to write my first novel, I brushed him off.

“Wrong, Sir! What I need is more practice,” I told him.

But Joe already knew more about me than I knew about myself. In the end, he asked me to give him some money and he and his team helped me to complete my first-ever shitty first draft in a 100 Days Challenge.

By golly, it worked!! If you wish to know more about my amazing experience you’re in luck because fresh out of the experience I wrote an article here on Medium about that.

Let me share it with you:

So there, the third thing I want to tell you is that I’ve written my first shitty first draft which comprised then of 70,000 shitty words. Presently, I’m on my first rewrite and the words just keep pouring out as if there’s no tomorrow. Now mind you, if it hadn’t been for this Joe Bunting Guy, these words, this story I never knew I had been carrying inside of me would never have seen the light of day. Haha. I’ve written an entire story.

“Is it good,” you ask.

My answer is a shoulder shrug, a wink, and a “Methinkso.”

FOUR My middle name

I was born Jamili Selma Martinez to parents who did their best to raise me. I’m the second-born but my sister died within the month of being born so that by virtue of being alive I’m considered the big sister in my family of origin. My mother always told me that losing her first baby that way made her extra careful, extra loving with me. I’m forever grateful for that; I feel love radiating out of my ears and I just cannot contain myself. Devoid of conceit, let me just say that I believe love is the way to go.

If you were to ask my siblings though, they’ll tell you that this Love-thing is the most ridiculous flaw about me. They don’t like me.

Anyway, here on Medium and social media you will know me as Selma because Selma, which means Peaceful, is the name I define myself as.

FIVE Humble beginnings

I was born in Belize, a colony of Great Britain you probably remember as British Honduras. The official name was changed from British Honduras to Belize in 1973 and full independence was granted in 1981. It’s the only Central American country whose native tongue is English.

Geographically situated between Mexico and Guatemala, Belize is also bordered on the east by the majestic Caribbean Sea and the small country boasts the second largest barrier reef in the world; only second to Australia.

SIX Continents

I’ve lived in Mexico and in the United States of America for short periods of time and have lived in Japan for twenty-eight years — which is almost a decade longer than I lived in my native Belize. I love Japan mostly because the people I love most in the world all live here.

I have been married to an amazing Japanese man whom I met in Chicago at a Sushi Bar I entered alone with the hope of eating grilled sardines.

I love fish, particularly, sardines — grilled.

SEVEN Imposter syndrome

Seventy percent of the time I feel like a fake. As you’ve gathered from TWO and THREE, after Sarah made me aware of who I was, I embarked on this writing journey ‘only’ a year ago.

I’m sure I have a long way to go but I know I like it here and that I’ll be here for the long haul doing the work as best as my faculties allow.

I look forward to the day I can shed my imposter suit of armor.

Incidentally, besides two close friends, I still haven’t told anyone about my writing. And those two friends love television over books. I guess I’ll need to win them over with a book that gets turned into a movie. Now that’s a tall order! I’ll do my best.

EIGHT I knew what I knew and didn’t need awards to prove what I knew

My favorite pastime growing up was memorizing words and their meanings in the dictionary. This could have helped me enormously in every spelling bee but, never one to crave the spotlight —

I’d rather be a frog than be the last one standing in the middle of that stage

— I intentionally misspelled words.

For that reason, I never won a spelling bee.

It never bothered me but in hindsight, it could have won me a scholarship and I could have achieved the Carolyn Keene status I craved so much… Such is life!

NINE Numbers are numbers

… not to me. I’ve been on Twitter since January 2017. Again, under the suggestion of Sarah.

As of this article, I have 2,186 followers on Twitter; no one in my circle of friends or extended family knows… This INFJ is truly happy about the number of followers I’ve amassed. Thank you very much.

TEN

Besides English, I’m pretty fluent in Spanish and Japanese but in any language, I’m a slow reader. There’s just something about the written word that makes me want to linger on a page. Guys, I really don’t know how you all do it…

Readers are amazing humans… and Writers, well, Writers are my favorite flavor of humans.

Yes! I listed ten thingies about me. Nothing impressive, but hey, ten is ten and hopefully it has given you some insight into who Selma is. Thanks for reading. Now, on to tagging… Honestly, I’ve been absent from Medium for a while and I’m not sure who’s been tagged already, but in order to keep this ball rolling I’ll tag a few people: Jewel Eliese Nicole Akers Caroline de Braganza Pamela Pan Stacey Price Watkins Anna Cairns Stefani Vader Maya Spikes Cori-Leigh Joan Evans

No hard feelings if you don’t wish to play.

THANKS FOR READING. I Wish You Miracles.