Exit Your Publishing Frenzy in 2022. That is my new year’s wish for all of us in Writer Wonderland. To slow our roll and our pulses. To find a different way to navigate this very different time. Such an adjustment has everything to do with Attitude.
Attitude may not be Everything, but it Affects Everything. It is not easy to change the longtime habits of our writing career lives. But that is exactly what many of us need to do. Faster does not necessarily win the race, if this in fact even should be a race.
Everyone may be dashing around. Scrambling after crumbs of the publishing pie, ever more agitated as they dash. This happens a lot when opportunities are limited. But, will dashing and scrambling get you where you want to go? Most important, will you enjoy the journey?
What would happen if you were to calm down instead? What would happen if you pulled your emotions out of the equation? Especially those emotions associated with fear. This is the attitude roadmap to follow as you Exit Your Publishing Frenzy in 2022.
Take a detour from the hurry-up highway. Adopt the Long View. Life is long after all. My latest birthday attests to that. Your career path is long also. Wherever you find yourself at present is just one passage on that path. It is not the full story of your writing and publishing career.
Adopt the Wide View also. Step back and look at where you are standing. Ask yourself, “What can I do to put myself in a stronger position toward reaching my goal as an author?” No vague generalities, please. Identify one concrete step after another on the road to your destiny.
Brainstorm these steps toward your personal, individual, unique writer’s dream. Write them down. Review them frequently. Rethink and update them frequently. This is your once-upon-a-time travel guide toward your own happily-ever-after ending.
Think always in terms of strengthening your stance where you are. Toward solidifying your position. That way you will be ready to move forward from a Place of Maximum Possibility when real opportunities come along, as they one day will.
How do you create your Place of Maximum Possibility as a writer? Make your work the best that it can be. Study your writer’s craft. Excellence requires effort, and excellence is the standard you will pursue. At a comfortable pace. Scrambling and dashing are not effective study tools.
How do you create a Place of Maximum Possibility for your publishing career? Build a mighty platform one plank at a time. Be ready to prove to potential publishers that you can reach your readership yourself. You have time to do that mindfully now. No frenzy is required.
How do you create your Place of Maximum Possibility in the writing community? Pay it forward when you can. Pay it backward too, toward all of those who have urged you to believe in yourself and your work. They will rejoice as you Exit Your Publishing Frenzy in 2022.
Meanwhile, ask your crucial questions. How does your attitude need to be adjusted? What fears do you face about your writing career? What do you most eagerly desire to know? Add a question comment to this post, or email me at aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. I will be honored to respond.
Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com
Alice’s latest novel A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5 – is available HERE.
Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “Budding romance sizzles in the background until it ignites with passion.” “The best one yet!”
Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.
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Love the reminder to pay it backward. Say thank you while we can.
Thanks for the post, Alice.
Hi Anna. Certainly few among us has paid backward and forward and every which way than you have. Your service to our writing community has been beyond generous. I thank you, on behalf of all of us, for that. Love and Blessings. Alice
Dear Anna. You have commented on my blog posts in the past. I invite you to explore my most recent series. It is titled “Oh No I’m a Caregiver – Dementia – Our Cautionary Story.” These posts are of special significance to me. Dementia appears to be a reality destined to assault all of our lives in one way or another eventually. I believe that the story I have to tell – through my initial post and others yet to come at https://www.aliceorrbooks.com – has valuable insights to offer. For this reason, I hope you will read it and pass it on to others so that they might benefit from what I am learning and from those insights.
For example… My husband Jonathan, who has recently been diagnosed with dementia, is actually quite fine at this early stage. He is engaged in lots of cognitively powerful activities. He writes original memoir pieces that are very good and says this is the result of sitting in on so many of my writing workshops over the past forty-five years. He now finds more joy in writing than the drawing and music that were his usual creative pursuits in the past. This is good because, as you know, portraying characters and composing scenes require a deep level of focus and detail concentration which is very beneficial for him. He also loves jigsaw puzzling – the 1500-piece variety. Again much concentration is required plus he has fond memory associations of doing puzzles with his mom when he was a boy. He also reads a lot – challenging books, as well as his favorite New York Times articles. He does regular physical exercise and has also begun gardening at our church which has a large planted space in sore need of attention. Medically, he is taking a basic drug that has disappeared his brain fog for the timebeing. We also have excellent medical professionals on our team and on our side.
Dementia is not like the tv commercials portray it to be. Their purpose is to ramp up fear and sell very expensive, very dangerous drugs. There is a long, gradual period before extreme changes begin, and the aggressiveness these ads emphasize can often be mitigated with simple mood medications that are harmless and affordable.
Meanwhile, there is a real-life story to be told here of real-life experience. I hope you will read and share it. Dementia is a reality for many of us and, unfortunately, promises to be a reality for many more. Truth is our best armor against being cast into despair by the prospect. I hope to add a little to that sustaining truth. Dementia is one of the many ways all of us will evolve from this life into whatever may lay beyond. Passing on is our universal destiny. Some of those passages involve discomfort and unpleasantness. We can perhaps be a bit better prepared if we understand realistically what to expect.
That is what our story – Jonathan’s and mine – is meant to do. Help others – in an honest and caring fashion – to be prepared. Love and Blessings. Alice
Take a detour from the hurry-up highway. ^_^ I love that! This post ought to be required reading for every author. Excellent advice.