(First, please be sure to follow me on my new author's blog HERE. I'll be posting duplicate posts on both sites until all my lovely Followers join my new site.)
Welcome to the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a monthly insecure writer's anonymous group (not so anonymous, though, cuz we're really putting ourselves out there) that meets (posts) on the first Wednesday of every month. Thanks goes to Alex J. Cavanaugh for hosting!
If you were by here last Friday, you will have read my post, I'm A Real Writer Now. It was all about getting my first rejection letter from a publisher. Some of you (most? all?) probably already joined the club a long time ago, but for me, it was my first experience with a publisher submission.
I took part in an editor-judged query contest. The good news is that I was a runner-up! I was seriously thrilled. She requested my first three chapters.
The bad news is after reading my first three chapters, she declined to request the full manuscript. The rejection was very kind, with the editor saying my work was really close but not quite there yet and she'd like to see other work from me.
Well, you know how it is. I started over-thinking it, and wondering things like, "what exactly is wrong with it?" and "what do you mean it's close?" Because seriously, just tell me and I'll try to fix it. And then you wonder if she "got it." Because my work is slated as a YA Paranormal Mystery Series, but the way I look at it, it's more of a YA Paranormal "Cozy" Mystery Series with a lot of mishaps, sort of like Scooby Doo Meets Nancy Drew.
And then I think, "well if she didn't 'get it', it's my fault for not getting 'it' across in my writing."
You all know how the evil mastermind Lord Mind-Chatter works!
I was watching Oprah's Life Class and Super Soul Sunday this weekend and I am so glad I tuned in. It was completely inspirational, as were her guests: Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Maya Angelou, Iyanla Vanzant and Bishop T.D. Jakes. It was a day of self-empowerment.
Tony Robbins spoke about fear and how we're all born with it. It's a protection mechanism from the earliest cave man days and the fight or flight instinct. Obviously in a real emergency situation it can save our lives. But it can also hold us back from what we're trying to accomplish.
We have all sorts of reasons for being held back or why we're not successful. It's the "story" we tell ourselves for why we don't succeed. Maybe your business failed because your competitor slashed prices. Maybe you didn't get the promotion because you wouldn't sleep your way to the top. Or maybe you couldn't compete because you weren't bloodthirsty enough, or greedy enough, or unwilling to step on people on your upward climb. Or maybe on a personal level your parents were abusive alcoholics and drug users and you didn't stand a chance.
You get the picture. We all have our story and we hang on to it like a life line. We can analyze it till we're blue in the face, which just gives the story more power. This is the enemy! The story that disempowers you, destroys you.
Tony Robbins says we need to divorce our story, just like a relationship or marriage that isn't working. Invent a new story, one where you're successful. Just like the old story, if we tell ourselves the new story enough times, we become conditioned to believe it. It's like a self fulfilling prophecy.
Here are his three "musts" for success:
Strategy (come up with a strategy for success - have a plan)
The Right Story (change your story - come up with a story for success)
State of Mind (change your state of mind - act like a success, stand tall)
Do you see how we can use this to become successful?
Everything we need is inside us. We have all the tools. I'm not getting religious here, but according to Joel Osteen, we are children of God. We have God's DNA, so we are totally made of awesomeness!
Whatever you're trying to do, whether it's writing, losing weight or becoming healthy, we have the power through our mindsets to achieve our goals.
Need some inspiration? Check out these websites and the video below:
Happy first Wednesday of April! It's that time once again to put myself out there to the world with the support of the Insecure Writer's Support Group behind me.
Thank you to Alex J. Cavanaugh for thinking of this brilliant idea and hosting for all of us insecure writers.
I love visiting writer's blog to see what they're up to. I'm really happy for their successses, progress, recognitions, new cover reveals and new book releases. I love to support them when I can, to post about their covers and new releases. Truly, I really enjoy it. I feel good knowing that I'm helping.
But I can't help but feel frustrated with what I consider my lack of progress. I finished the first draft of my novel last summer. Last summer! I was a writer who was afraid to write and made no progress whatsoever until someone said, "just get it down - perfection comes with the editing."
And so I zoomed through, "telling" my story, until I was finished. Since it is my first novel, I've learned a lot along the way. And now I wish I had slowed down a bit, paid more attention to everything: character personality/flaws, conflict, strong verbs, show don't tell, plot holes, description, setting. Even my first few edits didn't cover all this, because I didn't know how to edit! Well, I think I'm better at editing now.
But now I'm tired of editing and ready to be done! Ready to move on to the next project and to start getting more work out there, and more work done.
I've been reading recently that the successful writer has volume and variety. I've seen it firsthand from blogs that I follow.
I want that, too!
Here are some serious questions for you: How do some of you get so much done? How do you feel about editing? Does anyone else get the editing blues? How long does it take you to edit?
