The average writer suffers from depression and self doubt daily. They don't think what they write is worthy of any praise. They are afraid to actually publish their book because then the world will know they have no talent and have no business writing in the first place.
Okay now that you have that out in the open, lift you head high and say — I'm worthy. My stories are worthy... my characters are worthy... my book is worthy. Fear is the biggest obstacle to most writers me included.
It's a hard thing to overcome your dark days, but once you learn to only listen to your positive inner voice, you'll be further ahead. We as writers are constantly comparing ourselves to that of other writers. It's a necessary evil sometimes, but how do you compare Hemmingway to Twain, you don't. Both are good in their own way and so are you and what you write. The challenge is setting yourself apart something I think I did, on the good days that is. On the other days I try to focus on getting my book in front of a new audience or creating something new.
J.A. Konrath says sometimes you get lucky and that's how I feel with my series starting with Armed and Outrageous. It's a unique idea but what I found out is that not everyone likes unique like you think they do. People either love your books or hate your books, it's as simple as that. Lately people are loving it, but I always know on the back burner is a scathing review waiting to be put up on Amazon or Goodreads.
Reviews — train yourself to not read them. I know, right? Sure you get all giddy about the good ones, but ignoring the bad ones is what will promise you longevity as a writer. No matter how hard your skin is and us writers try to develop lizard skin, negativity will pull us down off the mountain. I know because it happened to me at the time when my book had the best sales numbers on Amazon. If you give it away for free, you're gonna get negative reviews. Why? Because people snapped it up that don't even like your genre or like in my case, hate indie writers. While most of us are fortunate enough to have way more positive reviews, you better get ready to ignore the bad ones when they come along.
Remember to always portray yourself in a positive manner on social networking sites no matter how bad it gets. It's there that your target audience hovers around and don't think for a minute that just because they don't comment they aren't watching. Most people are watchers and love to read what writers post. I'm by nature a positive person so it's easy for me to be positive, but even I have days where I'm so down that it would be best served for me to stay offline.
I hope this post has been helpful to some of you and don't be discouraged, I'm in your corner cheering you on!
Okay now that you have that out in the open, lift you head high and say — I'm worthy. My stories are worthy... my characters are worthy... my book is worthy. Fear is the biggest obstacle to most writers me included.
It's a hard thing to overcome your dark days, but once you learn to only listen to your positive inner voice, you'll be further ahead. We as writers are constantly comparing ourselves to that of other writers. It's a necessary evil sometimes, but how do you compare Hemmingway to Twain, you don't. Both are good in their own way and so are you and what you write. The challenge is setting yourself apart something I think I did, on the good days that is. On the other days I try to focus on getting my book in front of a new audience or creating something new.
J.A. Konrath says sometimes you get lucky and that's how I feel with my series starting with Armed and Outrageous. It's a unique idea but what I found out is that not everyone likes unique like you think they do. People either love your books or hate your books, it's as simple as that. Lately people are loving it, but I always know on the back burner is a scathing review waiting to be put up on Amazon or Goodreads.
Reviews — train yourself to not read them. I know, right? Sure you get all giddy about the good ones, but ignoring the bad ones is what will promise you longevity as a writer. No matter how hard your skin is and us writers try to develop lizard skin, negativity will pull us down off the mountain. I know because it happened to me at the time when my book had the best sales numbers on Amazon. If you give it away for free, you're gonna get negative reviews. Why? Because people snapped it up that don't even like your genre or like in my case, hate indie writers. While most of us are fortunate enough to have way more positive reviews, you better get ready to ignore the bad ones when they come along.
Remember to always portray yourself in a positive manner on social networking sites no matter how bad it gets. It's there that your target audience hovers around and don't think for a minute that just because they don't comment they aren't watching. Most people are watchers and love to read what writers post. I'm by nature a positive person so it's easy for me to be positive, but even I have days where I'm so down that it would be best served for me to stay offline.
I hope this post has been helpful to some of you and don't be discouraged, I'm in your corner cheering you on!
2 comments:
Great Post, Madison. It's liberating to know other authors who think the same way I do. Sometimes it's hard to remain positive, especially when there are so many great authors out there, and you think your work can't compare with theirs.
Thanks Evelyn! I wrote this on one of my not so great days. Lucky for me they are few and far in between.
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