We’re a people of instant gratification. If others don’t give us what we want, when we want it – we simply take matters into our own hands and make it happen.
This attitude grieves me. I’m not sure when it began to happen but somewhere along the way, understanding the importance of working hard and receiving success has gone by the wayside. These days we just “do it ourselves” regardless of the impending consequence.
Don’t get your hackles up. I’m not against self-publishing in the right circumstance, but for most of us. . .the right circumstance is simply impatience. We just want publication, never considering if we are ready for all that accompanies it – marketing, book cover, editing, and financial investment.
It’s important as a writer to continually assess your goals and motives. Ask yourself those hard questions like, “Is my work ready to publish?” “Why the rush?”
I recently spoke to a writer friend who has been to the school of hard knocks. She’s written excellent work and been rejected ample times. She’s a number of years in the industry, and still waiting for “her time.” But that’s the difference in her and so many. . .she’s waiting. This was the case for me. It took 8 years and all my beginning writing peers being multi-published, before I landed a traditional contract and a successful novel.
Do you think I stood in the background and waved the flag of defeat? Yep – just ask my sweet friend Dee Dee. She knows.
Waiting is hard. Especially when our peers are receveiving the contracts while we stand back in the corner growing frustrated and sad. I could have pushed the work into self-publishing but I chose to continue to grow and wait. And wait. And wait some more.
There has to be a certain amount of waiting involved in writing, if for nothing more than learning the craft. There has to be rejection to push us to stretch beyond our limits and improve. A certain amount of time simply has to pass for us to become the writers we were meant to be.
When we’ve matured in our writing, there comes a point of contentment. The moments when you know you have done all you can do to make this work the best it can be. In these moments we face fear – the what if’s. What if readers don’t like it? What if agents say no? What if? What if?
The time when you complete that project you’ve sweated tears over. The time when you’ve done all you can do to make it perfect. When you are able to finish the work, pray a prayer of absolution, let go of the obsession of publication, then move on to the next project. When you find this contentment in your writing, I can almost guarantee. . .you will publish very soon.
Rushing my writing, I have found, has never made me better at anything, unless of course its mistakes. And that, I seem to be very successful at. But when I learned I could only do my best and that was really all I had control of, then my writing began to grow successful.
The hardest thing about being an author is learning to pray that prayer of absolution. You type "the end," then scoot back in your chair, lift your eyes to heaven and say:
Lord, thank you for letting me be a tool. I have obeyed. This is now in your hands. May it be only to your glory not mine. Be it successful or not, I have obeyed for this is what you called me to do.
Now I can go to bed, having done just that.
Go to bed. Rest knowing you have done the best work you can do. Trust, knowing you have obeyed the calling given you. Believe God will use the result of your work. And you will be successful.
Don't Close Your Eyes - Bob Hostetler
2/5/2019 by: Cindy Sproles
Love Your Faculty
10/17/2018 3:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The Immeasurable Power in You
10/14/2018 2:37:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Forging Ahead after Rejection
7/17/2018 8:12:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
cindysproles.com Privacy Policy
6/4/2018 8:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Closing Up Shop - Guiding Seniors to Letting Go
4/9/2018 10:56:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Publishing Naysayers
3/16/2018 1:30:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
In Prayer - I Write
3/3/2018 9:00:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Keep Them Reading
1/12/2018 11:23:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Encouraged - Even When . . .
1/2/2018 12:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Christmas Tears
12/18/2017 12:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Holiday Elder Care - Be an Elder Elf
11/12/2017 7:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Grateful for a Dream I Didn't Know I Had
11/9/2017 6:30:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Writing in a Pickle
11/4/2017 7:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Keep Them Reading
11/1/2017 7:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Chicken Soup for the Soul - Writer Call Out
10/27/2017 10:05:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Five Ways to Assure Your Work will Find the Slush Pile
10/24/2017 7:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
23rd Psalm Revisited
10/21/2017 7:00:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Contentment in Writing
10/19/2017 9:30:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
5 Common Sense Tips to Better Writing
10/10/2017 7:00:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Overshadowed
8/21/2017 10:05:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Chicken Soup for the Soul Callout - Stories about Love
8/21/2017 7:54:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Present Yourself Approved and Professional
8/14/2017 7:00:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Five Keys to Overcoming Rejection
8/12/2017 7:00:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Writing Call Out - Chicken Soup for the Soul
8/10/2017 8:47:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Writing Your Mission Statement
8/8/2017 7:38:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
When Words of Encouragement Wane
6/28/2017 10:54:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
The Good, The Bad, and the Memoir
2/6/2017 10:59:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Writing Truth with Love
1/13/2017 11:05:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Oh To Be A Writer
1/4/2017 11:12:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Why Write?
1/1/2017 11:16:00 AM by: Cindy Sproles
Scammed
6/21/2016 3:48:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The Pain of Unsolicited
3/9/2016 3:51:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Frozen in Place – Icey Self-Talk to Freeze Your Writing
2/9/2016 3:58:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Not Alone: A Literary and Spiritual Companion for Those Confronted with Infertility and Miscarriage
11/21/2015 3:02:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Thankful Despite . . .
11/20/2015 3:04:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Stepping Up to Na-No-Wri-Mo
11/16/2015 3:08:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The Gift of No Gifts
11/2/2015 3:11:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Writers Be Encouraged
10/15/2015 3:17:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Keep ‘Em Reading – It’s the Writer’s Responsibility
8/13/2015 3:26:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Saying Goodbye
7/17/2015 3:31:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Overcoming the Fear of Writing Failure
7/8/2015 3:38:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Making the Move – Home to Assisted Living
6/17/2015 3:41:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
I Kid You Not
6/6/2015 3:44:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Who Really Sells Your Books
5/24/2015 3:47:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Homonyms – Did You Sea/See Them Their/There?
3/10/2015 3:52:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Hearing the Call to Foster – Renee McCausey
1/13/2015 3:54:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Throw Out the Crutches
1/10/2015 5:02:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
So You Were Asked to Be A Beta Reader?
1/10/2015 3:59:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
REJECTIONS – Aaughhh!
1/5/2015 5:04:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The Bachelor – Stephanie Reed
12/14/2014 5:06:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Those 15-Minute Appointments
12/3/2014 5:08:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The Making of a Servant
11/30/2014 5:10:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Miracle in a Dry Season Review – Yvonne Lehman
8/27/2014 5:12:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Write Anyway
8/26/2014 5:17:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
World Blog Tour – Catching Up with Cindy Sproles
7/22/2014 5:19:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The Progression of Life
7/17/2014 5:23:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Instrumental Writing Helps – Aaron Gansky
7/4/2014 5:27:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The Question Saga
6/29/2014 5:28:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Defy the Night – REVIEW
4/28/2014 5:30:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
When the Work is Hard to Do
4/1/2014 5:31:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
My Heart Belongs to Him
2/14/2014 5:32:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Review of The Vicar’s Wife
2/2/2014 5:44:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The In on Self Publishing – Part 2
12/29/2013 3:44:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
The In on Self Publishing – Part 1
12/26/2013 3:47:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Divorce My Words? Never!
10/25/2013 3:50:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
In a Pickle
10/1/2013 3:52:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Bigger and Better
9/27/2013 3:54:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Putting SOCIAL back in Media
8/10/2013 8:08:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
After the Conference Ends…
8/8/2013 8:13:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Here a Tweak, There a Tweak, Everywhere a Tweak, Tweak
8/2/2013 8:15:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
A Writing Circle of Life
7/30/2013 8:16:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Can You Hear Me Now?
7/23/2013 8:18:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Golden Years, Cherished Moments
3/20/2013 7:47:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Broken Heart Syndrome
9/26/2012 7:56:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
What About Our Elders
8/24/2012 7:57:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
A Minute – A Lifetime
8/10/2012 7:58:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
Water, Water – Who’s Got the Water
7/31/2012 7:59:00 PM by: Cindy Sproles
