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Home » Career » Page 26

Career

The Trajectory Principle

By Dan Balowon March 3, 2015
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American culture sends mixed messages. On one hand it tells us that we can be “anything we want to be,” but then if we don’t rise to the top of whatever we pursue it tells us we are failures or at best we should be disappointed in ourselves. There are winners and losers and we are either one or the other.

But that is simply not true.

A great mayor of small town is not a failure when he/she does not desire or is not elected to the county board or state senate or governor. Being a great mayor is just fine.

A part-time pastor of a church of sixty people might be doing more important work in God’s eyes and have a more deep and abiding faith than a high profile mega-church pastor with a TV program.

An excellent departmental manager is not a failure if they don’t become CEO. Excellent leaders are needed everywhere.

Some of the greatest coaches are not working for a high profile university or professional team. The best might be a part-time coach, full-time teacher at a small high school in a rural town. Over the many years, he/she has changed the lives of hundreds of teenagers by inspiring them to overcome adversity and be the best they can be. They might have been the only positive parental role-model to some of those same teens.

The greatest music director might not be the eccentric and brilliantly difficult conductor of a major orchestra, but the grade school music teacher who inspires hundreds to love music and make it part of their lives forever.

The greatest teacher might not be in a nicely appointed office at an Ivy League university, but at a folding table in a windowless classroom in a community center working as a tutor in an afterschool program for children having a difficult time making the grade.

You get the point.

Today, I am exploring what it means to be an author and a concept I am calling The Trajectory Principle. Trajectory is the flight path an object takes after force is applied.

Every writer will have a trajectory to their writing career and will affect the lives of certain number of people.

With no apologies for my directness…a lie from the pit of hell is that your life is a failure and no one cares about you unless you are #1 in the world’s eyes and that God is disappointed with you and every time you read the parable of the talents, you feel worse.

The enemy of your soul loves to discourage and he wins when you buy the lie that God’s value for you is connected to your worldly success.

This is where the “winning is everything” or “second place is failure” thinking is extremely destructive. We’ve all bought into it.

It makes nice headlines for motivational speeches to linebackers, but lousy advice for living.

Authors have been driven to depression and creative paralysis thinking they are failures because their book trajectory didn’t meet sales expectations of themselves or the publisher.  But how many people in the world have the opportunity to affect the lives of five hundred people, not to mention five thousand people or more?

When Jesus spoke to the crowd and delivered what has been known as The Beatitudes, he outlined a counter-culture world view that is 180 degrees in a different direction than just about everything in the culture. His definition of trajectory is very different than we are led to believe.

It breaks my heart when a good writer decides to abandon writing excellent articles for the church monthly newsletter, the bi-weekly free newspaper or the local school website because our culture said they are nothing unless they are writing the great American novel for big money.

When that happens, the devil has won and is all smiles.

It breaks my heart when a good writer thinks their only valid “trajectory” is to compete head-to-head with Stephen King, J.K. Rowling or Max Lucado.

The ability to write well is a gift from God. But God calls different people to different things. He calls missionaries to forsaken places where their work is tedious and seemingly unfruitful, except for a few encouraging signs once in a while. He also calls people to do big spectacular mountain-moving things. Both are important.

If you don’t think so, you have bought the lie.

Take heart, if God has given you the ability to create with words, you should find ways to exercise that ability, realizing that it might not be for big money, or any money at all. It might be writing books or it might be writing amazing notes of encouragement and inspiration to five friends.

One to one instead of one to many.

Once every aspiring or experienced author accepts that God is in control of their trajectory, it will make the flight much more fulfilling and worthwhile.

 

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Category: Art, Career, TheologyTag: Career

My Book is Due and My Life is Falling Apart

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 19, 2015
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Sound familiar? Even most unpublished authors wouldn’t envy the published author this type of pressure. But over the course of a career, the likelihood is great that one or many events will throw off a writer’s schedule. There are times when work has to take a temporary stop. No doubt about it. When major stress hits, be sure to pray and meditate each day. You don’t have time not …

Read moreMy Book is Due and My Life is Falling Apart
Category: Career, Get PublishedTag: Career, Deadlines

Reviews: Friend or Foe?

By Karen Ballon February 18, 2015
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Writers are a fascinating blend of contradictions. Many are introverts who have to do extroverted things—speaking, booksignings, author appearances–and do them well. They are creative, expressive people who, most of the time, live in their heads. And when they are around people, they can seem withdrawn, even remote (mostly because they’re STILL in their heads). They come across as confident …

Read moreReviews: Friend or Foe?
Category: Book Business, Book Review, CareerTag: bad reviews, Career

Author Platforms 301 – Part Three – Customer Service

By Dan Balowon February 17, 2015
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This concludes a three part series of posts exploring the issue of author platforms and how to get one.  The Steve Laube agency will offer a downloadable document that will include the three posts plus additional information and resources. The last two weeks we have covered the need for all authors (especially aspiring authors) to develop a “message platform” and some suggestions how to determine …

Read moreAuthor Platforms 301 – Part Three – Customer Service
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Branding, Career, Get Published, Marketing, PlatformTag: Author Platform, Marketing, Platform

Finding Your Readers’ Hot Topic

By Karen Ballon January 14, 2015
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One of the fun things about being an agent is that I get to work with all kinds of books, fiction and nonfiction. I love words, and I’m excited about working with others who love them. I’m passionate about working with books that I believe will have a real impact, both in the here and now and in the eternal sense. Books that encourage, strengthen, and challenge people, and books that share deep, …

Read moreFinding Your Readers’ Hot Topic
Category: Career, Get PublishedTag: Get Published, Topics

Start the New Year Right

By Karen Ballon January 7, 2015
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I must have started this blog fifteen times. I’d write a word or a line, then delete it. All because I’m trying to think of something new and clever to say about the fact that we’re facing a new year. But you know what? There isn’t really anything new to say. Sure, publishing has changed, and will continue to change. Yes, books are being published and will continue to be published. How that …

Read moreStart the New Year Right
Category: Art, Career, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: story, The Writing Life

Should I Be Writing This Genre?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 4, 2014
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Often I talk with new authors writing in lots of genres. This is fine if it’s part of your personal writing journey and learning process. I want my authors to enjoy what they’re writing. But when you get serious about publication, know when to choose and what to choose. One mistake is to write strictly to market when you don’t like the genre. I love to tell the story of a friend who said she knew …

Read moreShould I Be Writing This Genre?
Category: Career, Craft, Creativity

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

By Dan Balowon November 25, 2014
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Everyone is thinking about being thankful this week so it is comforting knowing that I am not alone on this bandwagon. When President Obama said the words, “You didn’t build that,” back in 2012 and drew such ire from opponents, I was troubled. I understood what he was trying to say…that no one does things on their own without help from someone else. He probably could have found better words to …

Read moreGiving Credit Where Credit is Due
Category: Career, Personal, TheologyTag: Personal, thanksgiving, Theology

Heartsong’s Publishing Legacy

By Steve Laubeon November 17, 2014
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Last week, as mentioned in Tamela’s wonderful tribute, Harlequin announced that the Heartsong Presents imprint is going to be shuttered. Heartsong Presents has been primarily a “direct-to-consumer” book club which published romance titles with a specifically Christian message. {And last week I joked about how things can change on Tuesday… This announcement came on …

Read moreHeartsong’s Publishing Legacy
Category: Career, Romance, TrendsTag: Book Business, Heartsong, Romance, Trends

Interviews Made Easy

By Karen Ballon November 12, 2014
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Writers had a lot of things going for them, but, generally speaking, there is one thing that can work against them when it comes to doing interviews… Writers tend to be introverts. So why does that work against you? Well, most interviewers will tell you that the #1 thing they avoid is dead space. You know, those painful moments of utter silence when nobody can think of anything to say. Or when …

Read moreInterviews Made Easy
Category: Career, Communication, Craft, Writing CraftTag: Career, Communication, Interviews
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