The Writer Behind the Words (4 page)

Many successful writers have a spiritual connection, not necessarily a religious one. They are in tune with themselves and their place in the universe. They believe that writing is what they are meant to do and have faith that things will turn out well. Faith is sometimes seen as a dirty word or merely a religious one. Don’t make this mistake. Faith is the foundation of dreams realized. When all looks bleak, faith is your sunshine. When the statistics are against you, faith makes them meaningless. Will your faith get shaken? Probably. Is that bad? No. Just don’t let the doubts last. Constantly focus your energy on the future that you want, not the future that you don’t want. If you don’t want to stay broke, don’t study why writers struggle or get low pay. Study the rich ones and model them.

If you don’t want to be an obscure author, don’t read about the lives of authors who died in poverty and had their work discovered after their death. Study those who were successful in their own time. Study success. Surround yourself with people and things that propel you forward. Once you are a financial success, then you can worry about the plight of the lowly author and provide help.

Ways to Improve Your Faith

• Learn to listen to your gut, instincts, or whatever you wish to call it.
  
 

• Learn to say “no” to things that aren’t part of your plan. The world will not crash and burn if you tell your sister you can’t baby-sit or that you can’t help your neighbor with his taxes this year.
  
 

• Write about anything for fifteen minutes without stopping.
  
 

• Write affirmations (more on this later) and say them every day.
  
 

T
here are three traits that can determine whether you will be successful with resilience: passion, focus and initiative.

Passion is a great equalizer. Success doesn’t depend on intelligence, degrees or talent. Success depends on passion. All the great figures in history had a burning passion and achieved amazing things. You can too. Keep the fire of desire burning in your heart and you’ll find the solutions to all obstacles. Passion will delete the word “impossible.” Enthusiasm will make every day exciting. Get in touch with what makes you angry, happy or miserable. Experience these feeling and come alive again.

When you live with passion, your life will expand in ways you could never dream of.

Put your energy into developing your strengths. Too many people spend their time trying to become perfect. They put their focus on trying to fix their procrastination or nasty temper or bad habits instead of focusing on what they want. The sun is a huge source of light and energy; the laser is much smaller, yet a laser can do more damage. The reason is focus. Focused energy is very powerful.

You don’t need to be perfect to achieve your goal. You’re not a car or a machine that needs all the kinks smoothed out in order to work properly. You’re a human with unlimited potential. Focus on your strengths and how they can serve your purpose.

Discover what your career is about (or what you want it to be about). Try to limit it to one thing. Is it about entertainment? Enlightenment? Healing? What is your core theme? All writers have a core theme that runs through their work, both fiction and non-fiction, no matter the format. Find yours. It will keep you from being swayed from your mission.

Don’t wait for the wind; start paddling the boat. Many writers like to wait for inspiration. Reach out and grab it or, better yet, do without it. Write, write, write. Don’t wait for the right moment, right idea or the right equipment. Get started. As I said earlier, action is the key to success.

Don’t confuse praise with self-worth. Some people will love your work, award it and congratulate you. Others will strike it down and call you names: hack, amateur, semi-literate twit. Accept the words that build up your spirit and ignore the rest.

Expect success and work towards it. Make your attitude your ally. You don’t have to “think positive” but you do need to believe that you are worthy of a successful, abundant, and joyful life. What you think will make your journey difficult or easy. If you were told that tomorrow you would be greeted with a huge bouquet, wouldn’t you wake up with joy? But if you were told that you would be greeted by a punch in the nose, wouldn’t you wake up with dread? Neither incident may happen but what you
think
will happen is key to how you will face the next day. So tell yourself wonderful things. Since you’re on this journey, you might as well enjoy it.

Y
ou can succeed as you are with all your doubts and fears. But there are thoughts that will hinder your progress and may even sabotage your dreams. Many people live with beliefs that depress them and limit their freedom from fear.

Here are some thoughts to throw away:

Life is about suffering

Only the strong survive

You have to struggle to get what you want

It’s a dog eat dog world

You must sacrifice everything to reach your dreams

Poverty is the price an artist pays for freedom

It’s selfish to want to be rich

God doesn’t like money

Only certain people are blessed

Some people are lucky and I’m not one of them

These thoughts are based on a concept of “scarcity thinking.” Scarcity thinking is the belief that there is only a limited amount of money, ideas, time, energy, and whatever to go around. Many people live as though lacking something is a part of life. This type of thinking creates a competitive and unhealthy atmosphere and makes the spirit wither. That is why, when people suffer a disappointment or setback, they become angry at those who succeed. They become bitter seeing others achieve what they believe should be theirs. Their hearts ache when they see someone win an award, reach a bestseller’s list, or make other achievements because they think it should have been them.

People can’t help feeling this way. We are raised in a very competitive society and we are programmed to think that for someone to win others must lose. That is true in the limited world, but in the world of abundance that is not true. Everyone wins. They just have to wait their turn. There are money, ideas, and time enough for you, if you stop trying to horde them, and try instead to live with peace.

Remove thoughts of scarcity from your mind and move free into the world of abundance. There is plenty to go around. The universe has abundant riches waiting for you to tap into. Open your mind to the possibility of a life where you can write and make a living for yourself and your family. A life where you can make a living doing what you love. It can be a frightening thought to believe that you can work towards your dreams and see them come true. Have the courage to try.

False beliefs are the shadows that keep people safe and in the dark. An affirmation is a light in that darkness. It is a statement of what you want to be true now.
I want to be a writer
is not an affirmation,
I am a writer
is. You may balk at what I’m saying and your inner critic may rise up and mock you. Good. Listen to it. You have to face it in order to defeat it.

Pay attention to the thoughts that come to the surface. Are they familiar ones that have held you back before? What voices of “reality” keep you from joy? A number of our fears start with our religious upbringing that has taught us about a God (if you are not religious you can replace the term God with universe or energy) that is cold and unfeeling and wants us to suffer for the ultimate good. I had a hard time believing in such a being. I didn’t think God would give me a desire to write then punish me for it. If you have a desire to create, that is how you are to serve the world. You are not a mistake.

God is the ultimate artist. Just look at the world around you, the various languages, music, and colors. God respects and delights in your gifts. I suggest that you create the following two lists. List ten characteristics of the God of your past, the vengeful angry God that you grew up with. The one you were taught to fear. The one you believe will never let you live your dream because you’re not good enough. The one that thinks there is honor in poverty, the one that would never support you being an artist. Write down ten of his (her/its) characteristics. Next write ten attributes of God as you would like him/her/it to be. Kind, supportive, loving, generous with money and ideas.

Next, look at both lists. There you will see your past and future. Release the God of your past and grasp the hand of the God of your future. Get to know that God and make him (her/it) your spiritual leader and guide. Believe in a universal spirit that wants you to be happy.

No one has to fail so that you can succeed. As stated before, many people believe that the world is about survival of the fittest. That is not so. You do not have to be an aggressive barbarian in order to get what you want. You can be generous and kind and still succeed. Sometimes it’s the thoughts of society that stop us, but other times it is our own inner truths.

Create a list of reasons why you can’t succeed as a writer.

I can’t succeed because…

I’m not smart

I have poor grammar

I don’t have time

I have a family to support

I’m too conservative to be a real artist

I’m disorganized

I’m not bold enough

I don’t like to take risks

I’ll probably fail

Come up with your own reason(s), then identify ones that sound like a past discourager (a parent, teacher, sibling, current myth) and release them. Identify the ones that reveal your own hidden fears. Acknowledge then release them. You may not be able to identify where some of these reasons come from. That doesn’t matter. Just acknowledge them, then release them.

Yes, I know it sounds corny, especially when the car won’t start, you’ve had low scores on every contest you’ve entered, you’ve reached a certain birthday or you haven’t managed to sell any writing in three years. I know it may sound silly, but as Napoleon Hill said, what the mind believes it can achieve.

One writer I know regularly told herself “I am a multi-published author” for the six years she was unpublished, and today she has five books on the market and is under contract for two more. So create a statement of power — an affirmation — for your life.

Remember that an affirmation is a “now” statement:

I deserve success

All my needs are met

I am rich

I make $______ a week

I have an audience that appreciates my work

I write successfully in three genres

Now that you have faced yourself, let’s move to the battlefield.

A
fellow author, whom I’ll call Patricia, recently faced a hard lesson in disappointment. She’d signed a second two-book contract with her publisher and had sent in her first book under the new contract. She was excited, and prepared her promotion schedule for the next year as she began working on her fourth book.

A few months later, she received notice that her editor did not like the third book and was reneging on the contract. She was let go without an explanation. No new book, no check — nothing. The disappointment was crushing. All her plans, all her excitement — dashed. Someone else may have crumbled, but Patricia didn’t.

She continued to promote her first two published books and sent out queries on her third book. At a writer’s conference she met an editor and convinced her to look at her manuscript. The editor agreed. Months later that editor offered Patricia a two-book contract.

That is what resilience is about. Patricia could have let the disappointment stop her, but she didn’t wallow in it. She shared her pain with fellow authors and kept sending out queries. She wouldn’t let one person’s judgment stop her from her dream and her readers are thankful.

Disappointment sneaks up on you. Life is fine then WHAM! A book doesn’t sell-through well, a story is pulled, an imprint closes or a magazine goes out of business before your article can get printed. It’s okay to feel let down. It’s okay to be upset, but move on. Patricia could have gotten angry and held a grudge against the editor. She could have whined about how this editor had stopped her career, but she didn’t. She kept going.