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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » The Writing Life

The Writing Life

The Gerbil Wheel of the Writing Life

By Steve Laubeon June 30, 2025
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A writer spends hours, months, and even years in isolation practicing their art. But it can feel like the gerbil in the cage running on its wheel. They go forward a few steps and back a few steps. They might even get turned upside down only to fall, often without anyone to notice. While there is length to the journey, it doesn’t always seem to be going anywhere.

Eventually, their craft improves to the point that it can be taken into the marketplace. There, it can become an expression of their very soul. The artist pours everything they have into that event.

And despite the years of work, all the audience cares about is whether or not the performer sticks the dismount. (Anyone watching gymnastics knows what I’m talking about. And now I’m mixing metaphors.)

Seems a bit depressing when expressed like that. But, in some ways, that is the life of the artist … the writer, the painter, the dancer, the musician. You didn’t get into it because you knew you’d be a bazillionaire. You are an artist because it is a part of who you are. And in that, there is beauty. In that, there is meaning. In that, there is praise for our Creator. In that moment, your reader is taken to a place where they have never traveled before. Even if for just a moment. A new thought. A sudden gasp. A new set of goosebumps.

I watched my daughters perform as musicians and dancers for nearly their whole lives. I have seen the hours of practice, the sacrifice, the pain, and the frustration behind the scenes. But I also have been privileged to see the inexpressible joy well from within them as they create beauty.

Therefore, while you may toil away at your keyboard feeling like you are on the gerbil wheel of the writing life, in actuality, after today, you are one step closer to making something great.

 

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Category: Art, Career, The Writing LifeTag: Art, Craft, The Writing Life

The Most Important Word Every Writer Should Know

By Steve Laubeon June 2, 2025
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Failure. It is a word every writer learns to appreciate with time. In the beginning, it is frustrating and angry-making. Along the way it becomes “meh” to the point of quitting completely. Eventually, there comes the realization that it is normal and part of the business. Michael Jordan, basketball icon, said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost …

Read moreThe Most Important Word Every Writer Should Know
Category: The Writing LifeTag: Failure, The Writing Life

When You Share a Name With Another Person

By Steve Laubeon May 19, 2025
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A great question came our way: Although I have been cultivating my online presence as a writer, I have found that someone who shares my name already has a significant online presence. This person does not live a Christian lifestyle: in fact, I would be terribly embarrassed and my professional integrity could be harmed if anyone mistook me for this individual. Perhaps other authors may face the …

Read moreWhen You Share a Name With Another Person
Category: Book Business, The Writing LifeTag: Author Names, The Writing Life

How to Write a Novel Faster Using Dictation Software With Misty M. Beller

By Thomas Umstattd, Jr.on May 13, 2025
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The Apostle Paul didn’t write his letter to the Romans—at least not by sitting down alone with paper and ink. He dictated his ideas to an amanuensis, a scribe or secretary who took dictation in shorthand and later rewrote the letter in full. This explains Paul’s conversational yet intricate writing style. And Paul’s dictation of the book of Romans isn’t some fringe …

Read moreHow to Write a Novel Faster Using Dictation Software With Misty M. Beller
Category: Technology, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Technology, The Writing Life, Writing Craft, Writing tools

How to Write Your First Novel – an Interview

By Steve Laubeon January 20, 2025
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write your first novel book cover image

Thomas Umstattd Jr. interviews Steve Laube   Thomas: So, you’re thinking about writing a novel. You’ve tried your hand at writing a few times, but the story just hasn’t come together. Or maybe you wrote and wrote, but you didn’t quite like what you wrote. The method of starting to write and hoping for the best is the hardest way to write a novel. It’s like trying to …

Read moreHow to Write Your First Novel – an Interview
Category: Steve, The Writing Life, Writing CraftTag: Craft, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

When You Don’t Feel Like Writing

By Steve Laubeon September 23, 2024
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Multi-colored paperclips

“I don’t feel like writing today.” Ever said that to yourself? I’m saying it today. But if I followed through on the impulse, this page would be blank. Why You Won’t Write Today (1) Physical Illness can strike without warning. And some people suffer from chronic conditions. I have clients who pray for a “good” day so they can put a few words on the page. …

Read moreWhen You Don’t Feel Like Writing
Category: Career, Craft, The Writing LifeTag: Career, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

Ever Had One of Those Days?

By Steve Laubeon June 24, 2024
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You are going along with your tidy to-do list decorated with empty check-boxes waiting to be marked. And then, WHAM! You get hijacked like the rhino in today’s picture and carried off to some unknown destination. Hours go by, and you are tossed to and fro by this new crisis and that new task. Before you know it, the day is done and your eyes find that tidy to-do list. Still pristine as the …

Read moreEver Had One of Those Days?
Category: The Writing LifeTag: Interruptions, The Writing Life, Time Management

What Do You Do When Your Technology Fails?

By Steve Laubeon March 25, 2024
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Today, I tell the story of an author’s tragedy. We had a client who lost their entire manuscript the day of their deadline. Poof. It was gone. Their thumb drive malfunctioned too; it was empty. Because they had borrowed a laptop, the author didn’t know it was programmed to empty the trash each time it was rebooted. The author had moved the manuscript to the trash after emailing it to …

Read moreWhat Do You Do When Your Technology Fails?
Category: Book Business, Career, Technology, The Writing LifeTag: Book Business, Career, Technology, The Writing Life

Why I’m Not Mysterious

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 13, 2018
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I don’t believe in being mysterious, especially as an agent. Since I used to write books for publication, I know what it’s like to put your career in the hands of others. As a writer, I wouldn’t want to send off my precious work and then hear no updates or any word from my agent. I realize any agent will update a client when a contract offer is made. And I realize that, technically, that’s all the …

Read moreWhy I’m Not Mysterious
Category: AgentsTag: Agents, Contracts, Rejection, The Writing Life

How Authors Make Money

By Bob Hostetleron August 29, 2018
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So, you’ve written a book. Good for you. Now the money will start rolling in, right? Not exactly. There are a number of ways authors make money, but writing a book is only one step in a long and arduous journey. And, though the details vary widely from one author to another (and one book to another), there are six basic ways an author makes money. An advance When you sign a book contract, the …

Read moreHow Authors Make Money
Category: Book Business, Money, The Writing LifeTag: Career, Money, The Writing Life
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