Friday, March 29, 2013

Tune Out the Noise & Learn to Adapt

Published or unpublished, there are a lot of industry bits of information to understand and be aware of as writers. I know I have to stay abreast of these current changes, but I can't let it overwhelm my creativity. Otherwise, I won't have any books to market.

And that's what I need to be able to do. Write books so I have a product to market. In addition to having a product to market, I have to develop a marketing strategy regardless of who decides to take a change on my writing and offer me a contract. See, this is me believing it will happen one day. And it will.

I actually have a marketing strategy. I have kept my ear to the ground and learned a lot from those who have gone forth into the great land of publishing before me. However, I liken getting published to having a baby. Before the baby is born, there's a lot of preparation. Baby showers, nurseries decorated, diapers brought in, special birthing classes, and learning how to be a good parent of a newborn.

But I've learned that no amount of preparation can really prepare one for the baby when the baby arrives. The baby has a personality and a constitution of its own that the parent must learn to adjust to and adapt to in order to have a successful parenting experience. The baby grows, becomes a toddler, an elementary school student, a teenager, a young adult. And still the parent must grow and adapt and change as this individual becomes a fully realized person.

There will be bumps along the way. Mistakes will occur. Great moments will happen. Joy and distress. Happiness and pain. Elation and exasperation. They are all part of the great parenthood ride. And guess what, I think that's what becoming a published author will be like.

So in the meantime, while I prepare for my publication career to be born, I am fully aware that I will never be fully ready for it in the sense that afterward my career will grow and change and evolve. All that I can do is adapt and be ready and work on what I can control. My response. And in the world of writing, my best response is to continue to tune out the noise and write my stories and market them and learn and grow and adapt and do it all over again.

And with that being said, here is a great quote to live by as you evolve as a writer on your journey toward publication and after you traverse to the land of the published author:

Every moment spent whining about your writing career is a moment of creative energy lost... turn grousing into energy by WRITING! James Scott Bell

How do you plan to turn grousing into energy today? Me? I'm wrangling a pesky first chapter into shape.



2 comments:

Patricia Bradley said...

Absolutely true,Christine. I don't think you can ever prepare enough to birth a baby or a book.

Christine said...

Hi Patricia: So very true. And I hope I can carry the flexible parenting attitude I have with the College Kid into my writing career. I think that's the only way to handle the changes. Tho' as we have often said to the CK, sometimes we're a little behind on the growth curve. We need time to accept that she's in a new place and let her roam a bit more. I wonder if that will happen with the writing career, too.

Have a great day!

:-)