“If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.” ~ Anna Quindlen I’m writing this post because I need a reminder about what’s important to me. When I started this independent-publishing journey, I was happy …
Favorite writing advice: “You must allow yourself to fail on the page.” Who said the writing advice about failing on the page: Jaimee Wriston Colbert, fiction writing professor Why: Perfectionism will kill your writing goals. You’ll never get off the ground if you’re afraid to fail. I was afraid of failure, afraid of what people …
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi So in last week’s post about stepping out in faith (find it here), I told you about how I’ve wanted to be a novelist since I was five years old. Here’s my earliest memory of writing: crafting a story in the …
“Security does not exist in nature nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” ~ Helen Keller One of the best self-help/motivational books I ever read for stepping out in faith was If …
“Do or do not. There is no try.” ~ Yoda from Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back I usually don’t find myself quoting Yoda, but in this case, I think he’s absolutely right. Show of hands: how many people really believe somebody when they tell you that they’re going to try to do something? I’ll …
Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” I once spent 14 months writing over 600 pages. I thought I was done. I thought I had a novel, thought I could turn it in, thought I could work on the next thing. Then I sat down & read it. …
For some people, success equals money. For others, it’s fame. Maybe scoring an agent. Or a book contract. Good reviews. A New York Times bestseller. Your book optioned for a film. But what if you don’t have those things? What if your attempts at finding an agent fell flat? Or you got reviews that cut …
“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never ~ in nothing great or small, large or petty ~ never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”~ Winston Churchill Persistence is the difference between success and failure One of …
In his stunning book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell states researchers have come to the conclusion that in order to truly have expertise in a certain area, you need to spend 10,000 hours at it. I’d argue that passion is a necessity to succeed at your dream and what you envision for your life. If you’re going …
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the sh*t that weighs you down.” ~ Toni Morrison I always thought I was in need of permission to follow my dream. Specifically, someone else’s permission. It didn’t occur to me that wanting it for my life was reason enough to pursue it. I kept getting …
