Meet Eduardo Corvera

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eduardo Corvera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Eduardo , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I can happily say that my purpose in life found me through a series of rather unfortunate decisions I made when I was younger; so like most children I think the easiest way to talk about it is by blaming my parents, specifically my dad. I was a terrible student, no doubt the type teachers sit around and complain about to each other in the break room. So in the 6th Grade, with a failing report card in hand, my soon to be retired father—a Military Veteran of twenty years—grounded me indefinitely until my grades improved. What should have been a few weeks of discomfort turned into three years of utter defiance as I refused to be told what to do and in turn my freedom was strictly limited to a single chair at our kitchen table. I spent three years on “bread and water,” as my father referred to it when he would talk about me to extended family, but this really meant that I was only allowed to read books.

So that’s what I did.

By the end of the 7th Grade my reading/comprehension level had jumped from baseline to
well beyond 12th grade. And while It still took a year for me to learn that developing a work ethic was just as important as being well read I had to learn a lot of things the wrong way.

When I got to college I carried with me the dream of becoming a Doctor and joining the ranks of aunts and uncles who had pursued their educations to the end of the line and made good on the opportunities they were blessed with. Instead what I did was fail my Chemistry Lecture and despite passing Lab with flying colors I knew I had to make a choice. I could continue to try and force myself into a field that I blatantly wasn’t made for or I could reevaluate my strengths and bet on myself. That same semester I was also enrolled in a Creative Writing class and my Professor gave us the same assignment every week: “Go home, write a story, and then bring it back to me.”

So I went home, wrote a story, and then brought it back to her. After reading it she asked me two questions: “How long have you been writing? And how long did it take you to write this?”

“Thirty minutes,” I said. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever wrote.”

“No matter what,” she said pointing at my story. “You should do this for the rest of your life.” And so far my writing has opened every door I’ve wanted to walk through.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Since 2013 I have been building a body of work that consists of several books of poetry, feature length screenplays, short stories, and novels. What first began as a means to not become a statistic and fall victim to the curse of all grad students—to finish the M.F.A. and never write again—has turned into the preamble of my ongoing creative efforts. The dream of dreams is to write and create something that contributes to the art form and makes a lasting impression on the reader. Good writing is memorable, even quotable, but great writing is all consuming and has a tendency to follow you around like your shadow.

When I’m not writing It is my wonderful privilege to teach on the behalf of Tyler Junior College as a Professor of English Composition & Literature. So much of what I’ve been able to accomplish has been in large part due to the Professors I had in the first two years of my higher education. If it wasn’t for them I would be in a far different position in my life so I’ve been paying it forward by improving the national Literacy/Reading Comprehension rate one class at a time.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think my advice for anyone trying to accomplish anything, whether it is a creative endeavor or launching a business, is to be ruthless and unapologetically self-critical in the development stage of an idea and to allow yourself grace and kindness during the final process of creation. Something I’ve learned over time is that your friends and family will love you blindly and unconditionally which can translate into the softening of opinions and the acceptance of ideas or concepts that have less to do with the quality of the thought and more to do with the support of the person they care for.

When I finish a poem or short story I find the person who hates me the most, who harbors years of resentment towards me and our potential blood-feud and I politely ask them to read it. Now, this is only partially hyperbolic but when my friends and family ask me why I never share my writing with them the answer is always the same: Why would I allow you to just stand there and tell me how much you like the writing when what I’m looking for is someone to take it apart piece by piece and point out all the little things I did wrong?

I’d say that one of the qualities that has helped me the most on my journey is that I average two to three hours of sleep most nights. We can add that point under the undiagnosed ADHD column but the seeming inconveniences about restless nights for me has always lead to stretches of hyper productivity. But to answer honestly if I had to pick the three elements that have helped me the most along the way they would have to be that I: know thyself, I’m defiantly persistent, and I’m wildly insecure. I think if I had only one of these three it would render me useless but the three of them together have always maintained a harmonious balance. I take the time to truly know what my strengths and weaknesses are, my insecurity feeds into imposter syndrome, and my drive to never be seen as “less than” creates an upward spiral of anxiety coated success. This is the way it’s always been for me and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

For the last 6 years—and well into the foreseeable future—I have been in a life or death battle with myself as I desperately try to be a good dad to my children, and the consequences of my failure are literally life changing. Nothing kills the vibe more than being a sh*tty dad, and having been incredibly lucky to have a present father of my own, who taught me everything I know, the dream has always been to have and raise kids. Yet the insecurity and fear of not being equipped well enough to do a good job and poison the world and society at large with kids that look and sound like me would be a crime against humanity.

I make them breakfast every morning—pancakes and waffles on Saturdays and Sundays—, I listen to the stories they tell me about the day they had and all the little things they did, I spend every moment that I’m not at work with them knowing that above us exists an invisible clock counting down as they out grow me every day. My greatest challenge is to be better and do better every day and become someone they can be proud to look up to.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eduardo-corvera-8a936870/
• Twitter: @TheOnlyEMC2

Image Credits

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