I’d written my first book at age 10, and then fell creatively silent as I lived the rest of my life.

When I was about 20, I had accumulated a big stack of journals I’d written and was trying to get the courage to write something from them to share with the world.

I decided to ask my dad what he thought about my being a writer.

He put down the paper he was reading and listened to me share my big writing dreams. He then rather sarcastically said,

“Dream on, kid!” And went back to reading his paper.

I got really angry and loudly proclaimed,
“I will! You’ll see! I’m going to write books for the world.”

Many years later after I’d gotten my first big book deal, my dad said,
“Well, you did it! We always knew you could.”

I said,
“Actually dad, you didn’t know that I could and you sarcastically told me to “Dream on, kid!” As though you didn’t think it would ever work.”

He pondered my statement and replied,
“Well, you did dream on, didn’t you?
And, I’m glad you didn’t listen to me!”

For the rest of his life, he told anyone who would listen,
“Don’t do what I did- I didn’t support my daughter being a writer- in fact I blocked it by saying sarcastic things and she did it anyway. Be supportive of your kids’ dreams, even if you don’t understand them!”

I loved that he changed his view and became one of my biggest supporters.
I knew my dad loved me, and I knew he was just scared that my proposed life as a writer wouldn’t likely produce the results he wanted me to have. And strangely his sarcastic statement propelled me forward almost in opposition to what he had said.
In fact, when I removed the sarcasm, it became an inspiration!

He was so inspired when I became SARK and excited when I wrote more books and began traveling all over the world speaking about dreams and how they grow. After a challenging health diagnosis and before he died, he had started coloring mandalas to relax, and signed them Art by Art, because he loved that I signed my art Art by SARK. His name was Art;-)

The photo is of 4 of his mandalas. It’s a little hard to decipher the “Art by Art” but it’s there in the lower right corners. He was also color blind, and always asked me what I thought of his color combinations.

I always encouraged him.

I’ll love you forever dad!
Happy infinite Father’s Day, and here’s to all the fathers supporting their kids’ creative dreams. And to all the father figures, grandfathers and uncles who do that too. Let’s all remember that Dads have mighty encouragement POWER.

Love,

SARK

p.s. I’m mightily encouraging writers in my brand new program called: SARK’s Writing Salon: Soul-full Support to Accelerate Your Writing Results and your invitation is RIGHT HERE.