Guest Blogger Tristi Pinkston

Tristi is an LDS fiction author with five published novels – Nothing to Regret, Strength to Endure, Season of Sacrifice, Agent in Old Lace, and Secret Sisters. I’ve read all these books and I can assure you Tristi is a talented writer. She’s a stay-at-home mom, homeschooler, and media reviewer. She also works as a freelance editor.

Now for her blog –


Who Are You Really?
By Tristi Pinkston

“I have to find myself.”

This is an expression we hear all too often, generally in connection with a break-up of marriage or the quitting of a job. The speaker is unhappy with their circumstances and feel things would be so much better if they just “knew who they were.” Feeling the need to start over, they leave, hoping things will improve in their next relationship or job.

There are some basic, eternal principles that go along with this search for self. I’d like to share them with you today, and then relate them to your writing journey.
1. You are a creation of your Heavenly Father, complete with a personality, destiny, and the talents you need in order to fulfill that destiny. Just like we would not send our children off to school without shoes or a shirt, our Heavenly Father has seen to it that we have everything it takes to be successful. But like the child who takes off his un-cool warm sweater as soon as he’s out of his mother’s sight, we need to decide to use those tools to our benefit and that of those around us.
2. God never created anything that wasn’t of the most infinite worth, and that includes you. There’s no such thing as “the good people” and “the castoff people.” Each and every individual who walks the earth is of utmost value. You may not feel it at times, but you are worth every bit as much as Nora Roberts, John Grisham, or any other author you admire.
3. We can’t run away in search of self—those questions will just come along with us. We need to face them, head on, and make the realizations we need to make in order to find peace. This is not to say that if you’re in a bad relationship, you should stay, or that you should remain at the unsatisfying workplace. Sometimes those are changes that need to be made, but make them for the right reasons.

As authors, we each have something to say. We tend to downplay our own contribution to the world—“Why would they want to read my book, when there are so many others out there?”—but the reality is this: if you didn’t have something of worth to say, you would not have been inspired to say it. That, to me, is where stories come from—inspiration. It’s our spirits’ way of saying, “I am here. I want to share. I want to touch the lives of those around me.” Don’t ever look at your talent and think that it’s not important. I’ve seen too many talented authors give up their dreams because they fear no one will respond positively to what they’ve put out there. Fear never will feed your soul.

So, who are you? You are a person of tremendous eternal value, and you’ve been sent here with a job to do. That job is to share your thoughts, your feelings, and your deep, internal convictions with others. You’ve been given a tool to use in your quest, and that tool is your talent. Now shine it up and come out swinging!