by Dara Girard
Action is sending out queries, asking for assignments, writing one more story, jotting down ideas. Action is movement, movement creates energy, energy draws success. Most successful writers have more rejections, setbacks and heartbreaks than writers who have stopped writing. Now that you know the secret, try it for yourself. This can be accomplished by taking small or mini steps.
Mini Steps Towards Action
Buy a pen and paper.
Open a file called Writing.
Develop a ritual. One writer I know has to repeat “I’m brilliant” five times before he starts writing.
Lower your expectations. Just because a best-selling author writes twenty pages a day doesn’t mean you have to. Write a paragraph then congratulate yourself.
Summarize your idea in a sentence or two.
Do micro-movements. Read SARK’s book (listed in resources section) to find out how.
Identify writing markets.
Using Your Gifts
Today I looked out the kitchen window of my parents’ house and noticed a brown wren. It sat on a railing in their backyard and blended in with the bare trees and dry leaves on the ground. I noticed it, not because it was beautiful, but because it was singing. It sang so loudly that its song echoed through the trees. I stood amazed that something so small could have such a strong voice.
Many of you are just like this wren. You may never be the “bluejay bestseller” or the “eye-catching award-winning cardinal” but your voice will have an impact on those who hear it. So sing — loud and strong.
Preparing for Rain
Always remember that you’re good enough as you are to reach your dreams. I know it’s hard to believe, especially in a culture that promotes “self-improvement” for everything from physical shape to career choice, but you don’t need to change. In spite of all your imperfections, fears, doubts, and worries, you have everything you need to succeed. How do I know this? Because you’re here. You’re alive and you’re no different from others who have traveled this path before you.
Your job is to speak your intentions and to do them. If you truly want to quit, do it now. Why would a book about resilience talk about quitting? Because if you’re discouraged by the rain, then the storm is going to kill you.
Some people scoff and think, “Once I’m published everything will be okay. It’s worse being unpublished, ignored, having friends laugh at my dreams, having editors dismiss me, and I’m unhappy. A book contract or feature article will at least be an umbrella and then I will be able to deal with the rain.”
Yes, publication can be a protection against the rain. I know how hard it is to be unpublished. I was unpublished for years. I know the sting of rejections, the “You’re crazy” speech, the dreaded “You’ve still not published anything?” question, and the “Try something sensible” lecture. Being published allows me to respond to snide comments with a certain wicked delight and conceit that I didn’t have before I was published. However, I had confidence before I was published. Although publication is an umbrella, it is not a panacea. Can an umbrella keep you safe in a storm? No. What kinds of storms are out there? Consider these:
After years you finally sell a book to an editor who loves your work. A few months later, the editor leaves and your new editor hates your voice, your main character and you.
Your agent decides to become a magician.
An editor kills your article.
Reviewers sharpen their swords and publicly slice up your work.
“Readers” post nasty reviews online.
The front cover of your book is lousy.
The back cover blurb of your book is great; unfortunately it’s not what your book is about.
Sales are low so your publisher drops you.
You’ve visited six local bookstores, but can’t find your book anywhere.
You change your name due to low sales and write a different book, which also gets buried in the publishing cemetery.
Still think publication is safe? If you do, I also suspect you’d try holding onto a twig during a tornado.
Publication is nice, but it won’t keep you safe. Life happens. How you respond to the obstacles is the key. Many writers have experienced the above impediments and their careers are doing fine. You can do the same, if you’re willing to be honest with yourself about what you can handle. How do you deal with setbacks? If you’re like most people, you become desperate and either blame life, work harder and grow frustrated, or throw up your hands and give, up saying “I knew I couldn’t do it.”
Setbacks are not a reflection of you. Later I’ll show you how to handle them, but right now you need to face your temperament and see if it matches your goals.
Do you want to be a writer or to have written?
Do you want to play it safe or do you mind taking risks?
Do you live by ultimatums? “If I don’t make it by such and such time, then…”
Do you expect to succeed?
There are no right answers. You know yourself better than anyone else can know you, but it is critical that you know what you’re working toward. One thing I have discovered is that people who succeed think in a way that is different from those who don’t succeed. People who succeed usually reflect on the future, while those who fail reflect on the past.
If you miss a deadline, do you tell yourself ______?
I’ll never succeed because I’m always disorganized OR
I missed this deadline because I overbooked. Next time I won’t do that.
If you get a rejection do you ______?
Shrug your shoulders and submit again OR
Decide that you’re a loser because you always get rejections?
If you submit a manuscript then later learn it was improperly formatted do you ______?
Berate yourself and think of all the other mistakes you’ve made OR
Swear, then promise to do better next time?
Do you see the pattern? Winners always look forward; they learn from their mistakes, but they do not let past behaviors stop them. There is another trait that separates successful writers from unsuccessful writers — Attitude. I’ll give you an example of two writers: Felicity and Malcolm. They have the same world experience, same talent and drive, but different attitudes.
When Felicity gets a rejection, she sees it as a failure. She thinks of all the other authors who haven’t received as many rejections as she has. She knows she’s not as good as they are, and hates the fact that she’s shy. She knows she could never promote and network the way her critique group says she should. She wonders if she has what it takes to make it.
When Malcolm gets a rejection he sighs, is disappointed, and crosses the name of the editor off his list. He knows that marketing is about trial and error and that others have struggled and have ultimately succeeded. He knows that a good product will sell and he doesn’t worry that he isn’t as outgoing as his friend Randy, who is selling lots of freelance articles. Malcolm knows that there are other writers who are shy, like he is, but who have succeeded. So he keeps on trying.
Felicity and Malcolm are two people with the same problem, but with different attitudes. Work on your attitude or outlook, but don’t be mean to yourself. We all make mistakes on occasion. Virginia Woolf sent out her work without her address and a self-addressed stamped envelope for the editor to reply. Remember that all noted writers were once beginners or unknown mid-list writers. Learn to lighten your load and relax. It’s hard to run with shackles.
Six Hard Truths
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I was going to call this section the six secrets of publishing, because most professional writers don’t like to tell new writers about certain realities, but I think it’s aptly titled. If you plan to succeed as a writer, you will need to face these six hard truths.
It doesn’t get easier.
Writing is an art. As is true with singers or actors, writers are only as good as their last hit. Every book (article, poem) must be created with skil
l. No book will be a cinch if you strive to grow as a writer. It’s a hard thing to face, but your readers will appreciate it.
Someone will always be better than you are.
In this field, someone will always be faster, more prolific, more popular, more creative, or more intelligent. You can’t let this distract you. Write anyway. It’s okay if you can only write one book a year, or if your imagery isn’t stellar or like that of another author. Write.
Talent isn’t what you think it is.
I’m sorry to shatter your illusions, but talent in publishing (not to be confused with talented writing) isn’t beautiful prose, excellent characterization or any of those other skills you’ve been working to master. It is about being a wizard with words. Casting spells on people so that they listen to your stories or ideas and pay to read more. In publishing, a writer’s talent is measured by one thing: the ability to convince people to pay to read her work. So even if someone has the vocabulary of a third grader and ideas as extraordinary as mud… if people buy her work she is seen as talented.
You’ll want to quit.
There will come a time when the business of writing won’t seem worth it. The pay stinks, the critics are brutal, the readers aren’t there, your last book was ignored, or the writing is difficult. You’ll want to quit. It’s normal. But if your spirit is your guide, you’ll discover you can’t quit and you’ll keep on or start writing again.
You’ll get criticism.
Somebody is not going to like your work and will feel the need to tell you about it. It may come to you in the form of a scathing letter, a degrading review or an anonymous hit on the Internet. It may be public criticism to which you cannot reply (and please don’t reply, you’ll only look defensive or desperate), or it may be private (which will lead you to fantasize about torching the critic’s house). It’s part of human nature. We all want to be liked. We want our work to be “loved.” That won’t always happen. Fortunately, you’re not alone. Every writer faces this.
There are no guarantees.
There are no formulas to follow. A good book may not sell. A perfectly written proposal may get rejected. You may follow all the “rules” and see a rule breaker race past you. You may get published then never find a publisher again for years. Focus on writing. Focusing on anything else will make you crazy.
Understanding the Paradox
Paradox — noun
A statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true.
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I believe in being a cynical optimist or rather an optimistic cynic because it’s easier to live that way. Writers who are pervasive pessimists are unhappy no matter what good fortune comes to them, and writers who are naively optimistic are easily crushed and disappear after a couple years. Neither lasts long in publishing. Pessimists are stopped because they build up many reasons to fail and then usually do. Optimists don’t make it because they expect everything to work out and never prepare for (or even consider) the possibility of disappointments. When setbacks come, they think that it’s their fault or it blindsides them and they sink in despair.
If you are to survive, you will need to believe in success and abundance, that your career is within reach and that you can make a living as a writer. But you will also need to realize that it may be a struggle at first.
The writing life has many contradictions. If you get nothing else from this book, please remember what Admiral Stockdale said in Jim Collins’ bestselling business book Good to Great:
You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
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Admiral Stockdale should know. He survived a POW camp and saw “the optimists” die of broken hearts. Optimists in the writing world usually make career plans saying “By this age I will be here” (What happens if you’re not?) Or they determine that “I will make this much money by this time” (what if your career has a slow start?) “If I don’t win or final in this contest, then I’ll quit” (Why not quit now?) Some optimists employ the annoying practice of “positive thinking,” believing that their thoughts will alter their destiny. While I do believe that our minds are our most powerful tool, I find no harm in facing reality.
If you’re worried that your manuscript may get lost in the mail, print out a second copy just in case. If you’re afraid that your writing is not good enough, then take the time to learn how to make it better. Our thoughts, both good and bad, are a gauge of our present reality. If you can’t write well, “positive thinking” won’t change that. However, you can think positively as you write (the difference is passivity versus action). Don’t ignore your feelings by trying to “think positive.” When I drive somewhere I hope to get there in one piece without incident; however, I still put on my seatbelt.
The Stockdale Paradox
Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties and at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be.
Seven Traits of Successful Writers
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Now that you understand the paradox, you can go to the next step. Here are seven traits of successful authors that can help you on your road to resilience.
Resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not the absence of fear.
MARK TWAIN
Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads.
ERICA JONG
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Courage
It takes a quiet arrogance to be a creative person, to create something that no one really needs and then demand compensation. As a writer your courage will be tested. You will need courage to hold your head high when a book has low sales, fails to find a publisher or is publicly dismissed or criticized. You will need courage to face the outside when: people laugh at your efforts or dismiss them, readers pan an article, or a poem is called “too pretentious.” Making decisions also takes courage. You may have to decide whether to stay with an agent or leave, or to end a collaboration that has turned sour although it is financially fruitful.
At times, fear will limit your options; you must have the courage to expand those options. You can’t deny the presence of fear, doubt, or anxiety because they never leave. They will be there as you type your manuscript, as you place it in an envelope and as you write your query. All writers feel it; don’t let it paralyze you. Have the courage to write through it.
Ways to Improve Your Courage
Try a foreign dish.
Fail fast! Many people are terrified of getting a rejection. So get one and get it over with.
Write your book, poem or article badly. It takes courage to face that you’re imperfect.
Read your work aloud.
Write in a style you consider difficult and then treat yourself for trying.
Teachability
Man can learn nothing except by going from the known to the unknown.
CLAUDE BERNARD
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Competence can be a killer of excellence. Many writing careers get buried because the writer becomes complacent. They have reached the goal of publication and no longer strive to be the best at what they do. They fall into familiar plot twists, language,
characters or subjects. It’s safe (they get paid and have a readership), but this tendency puts most writers in a rut. Successful writers are always willing to learn. They aren’t stuck in their ways and can reinvent themselves when the time is right. Perfect examples are Dean Koontz, who went from writing four small books a year to writing big mainstream novels; Jennifer Crusie, who jumped out of category romances into women’s fiction; and Sandra Brown, who also left category romance to write suspen
se novels. No matter how long you have been writing, you don’t know everything. You will need to keep your mind open.
Ways to Improve Your Teachability
Read a book about the writing craft or motivational books.
Try something new. If you write articles, try poetry; if you write books, try short stories.
Learn the skills to become a good listener.
