It is hard to be a writer or to work in the publishing industry. Everyone defines success differently, and we strive to meet those expectations at every turn.
Often we let “success” define us, especially when a writer is told, “You are only as good as the sales of your last book.” Or an agent is told, “You are only worth the value of your last contract.”
Henri Nouwen, in his book The Return of the Prodigal Son, said it best:
Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me.
To practice a better way is so hard. We are in that boat being tossed by the waves of emotion. It doesn’t help when publishing experts say, “Work harder.” Or “Write faster.” Or “This is the right way.” And another says, “That is the right way.” What are we to do?
Examine Your Beginnings
Think about why you became a writer in the first place. Go back to those roots. What was it that inspired you? The answer is rarely fame or fortune.
Examine Your Motives
What is it that inspires you now? This cuts to the core of why you are doing what you are doing.
Locate Your Anchor
The boat metaphor is appropriate here. If you are being pushed toward the rocks, find that anchor and secure your place in the water. When the anchor holds, it doesn’t matter what the world says, or what an editor says, or what an agent says. “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever” (Hebrews 6:19-20, ESV).
Therefore, the next time you get the dreaded editing letter,
The one-star Amazon review,
A critical Facebook comment,
A rejection letter from a surly agent…
The next time, drop anchor and ride the emotion. It doesn’t mean you can’t cry a little or can’t get angry for a while; that would be inhuman. But once the storm has passed, you will find yourself still on your journey, following your original calling to write to the best of your abilities, come what may.
In a vague manner, I’ve been asking myself the same two questions lately: why did I start writing and why do I write now? Your post helped me focus and guided me to a decision.
I started writing just to see if I could, but teaching was my passion. After a seismic shift in my personal life, writing has become the passion, and teaching, while enjoyable, only supplements our income.
Will I keep writing? YES!
Nice “cover” art. Who did it?
I know this blog is for a wide audience but this one felt like it was just for me. I am in the process of examining … “do I keep doing this?” These excellent places to look for light came at just the right time.
Love the boat, waves and especially the anchor. Well done.
Thanks!
Steve, I hope it’s okay that my comment is tangential to writing, because your post runs with a truth that I have found in another part of life.
An emotional response is a dynamic, by definition; when positive it needs an ally, when negative, an opponent.
I had seen cancer in terms of a battle, but then realized that I had no-one to fight. It’s not a person, not even a mindless ‘thing’. It’s just a condition. And that epiphany made it possible to relax into the situation, unclench my fists, and breathe (though breathing’s pretty painful now).
The emotion I had carried, and which had tired me so, could be put down with a smile, that I might figuratively dance down the yellow brick road of my days, toward that shining place that beckons, just up the way.
***
They say cancer is a fight;
maybe so, but not for me,
because searching day and night
I won’t find personality
in the tumours or the pain,
for there is really no-one there,
and all fighting does is drain
my strength in punching heedless air.
And so emotion now has passed
for it has lost its place to sit,
and I know that at long last
I’m a better man for it
and can with a smile embrace
whatever God may bid me face.
Andrew,
That’s beautiful. My husband is beating a recurrence of cancer and God has used this 2nd time to draw us both so much closer to Himself. While I hate times like these, they truly are what force us to rely completely on Him.
For us, this 2nd time, He revealed to us functional medicine and we have embraced this path over the last year, completely detoxing and getting our immune systems truly healthy to the point that my husband’s body is fighting and killing the cancer.
But it’s all God’s doing!
Many thanks!
Thanks for that revelation, Andrew. My fight for 34 years is having a special needs daughter, as you know. But it’s not her I’m fighting. It’s all that’s wrong with her body that I’m fighting. It’s God’s decision to give her to me that way. Lots of fear and worry now that I’m getting older. What if she outlives me? Ya know?
How in the world do I fight that? Well, now I can remember how you’re handling what God has allowed. Not easy, but doable.
Dear Andrew,
I too am a cancer survivor, although I hate the term. I would rather be labeled wife, mother, writer, child of God.
God also sat me down for a good long while. The medical journey was grueling, but, as you state in your poem, the spiritual journey has been amazing.
I loved your poem!
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the encouragement. ❤️
Steve, this is one I will be pasting on my wall. Thank you for the wisdom and encouragement. Blessings.
Thank you, Steve. This hits home in the best way.
Thank you for this deck stabilization. Everyone needs a Barnabas in his life. The founder of Bob Jones University, Bob Jones himself, commented of the student Billy Graham, that Billy would never amount to much more than a smalltime country Baptist preacher. Perhaps Jones ‘appraisal of Graham’s capabilities at that place in time was correct. Maybe Jones’ evaluation was correct when Billy just started, but we all know Graham ultimately became “America’s minister.” Who did President Bush ask to preach to America after 9/11?
If only one life is ministered to with an author’s efforts, it has been worthwhile for the Kingdom.
And what’s wrong with being a smalltime country preacher, if he serves Christ?
Amen!!
Well said!
Thank you for this reminder. I should probably re-read it every day.
After 30+ years being tossed about on this ocean called the writing life, I still need these reminders. Thanks, Steve!
Hi Steve,
Thank you for the wisdom and light. God bless you..
Nana M.D.
Steve,
That is such a good reminder, thank you. It piggybacks on something my pastor said this weekend – to seek to be self forgetful and to leave it up to God to glorify himself through us. Matthew 23:12
I started writing because I have stories to share that I hope will improve my readers lives. Of late, I wrote a Revelations retelling in which the main theme is “how sorry do I need to be to be forgiven by God?” Targeted to secular readers, it appeals to Christians too. In it I include the plan of salvation as part of the story in a non-preachy way in every one of the 4 books. It is my daily prayer that God would use it as a tool to nudge readers closer to Him in these last days.
Thanks so much, Steve. Just what I needed to get me back on base in this writing life. You are an encourager.
Thanks for your encouragement and honesty. I needed to hear that. It’s so easy to become discouraged. A writers conference is coming up and I’m a little nervous.
Oh my . . . so timely. Thank you.
Thanks Steve. Timely and very well written. Above all, solid wisdom. It served me. Thank you.
Why did I start writing? That’s a great question. My first answer to that is, I started writing after a late-term miscarriage as a way to help channel my grief.
Then I remembered, 17 years before, when I was a senior in high school, the question every kid gets was, what do you want to be when you grow up? I told my boyfriend, I want to be a mom!
What I didn’t tell anyone was that I wanted to be a mom AND a writer. Specifically of gothic novels. But life got in the way and I forgot. God didn’t.
I don’t write gothic novels. I’m mostly a children’s author. I love telling stories! When I look back, I was making up stories before I could even write them down. I told them to my sister when we were supposed to be sleeping. 🙂
There are times when I’ve tried to quit (lots of reasons) and within days, I’m antsy and anxious and all the characters of all the stories that are crammed in my head are screaming at me to write THEIR stories! And I go back to it.
I’ve also learned I don’t write for everyone. I write for MY readers.
Thanks for the reminder and encouragement, Steve!
The world is complex. We tell stories in our head to understand it. Come they from others or ourselves. Told figuratively or literally. Stories dressed in academic gowns, clerical robes, farmer’s jeans, traditional garb, uniforms, whatever. Given authoritative names like paradigms, dogma, tradition, pedagogy, allegory, or common sense.
I read, study, and meditate to discover more stories. To improve my own stories.
Stories describing reality make my life better. Stories failing to describe reality make my life worse.
I write the stories in my head to scrutinize them. To be able to hold them, twist them, shake them, hurl them against brick walls and boulders. Test which crumble to pieces and which are solid. To discern which are more fallacy than veracity. To choose which to forge into useful tools of truth. To gain wisdom.
I also write to encourage others to increase the veraciousness of their stories. At times, I’m flooded with the blessing of seeing a sunny light bulb in the brain brighten eyes and smiles with the wonder of discovery. At other times, red light emerges from cognitive-dissonant torches reflecting from hypertension-inducing pitchforks and swords.
Dear Steve,
We have met and chatted together at Christian writing conferences over the years; you even invited me to submit my novel after a personal appointment at Realm Makers in Reno. I have gone to your workshops, listened to you speak, ate meals at your table, and follow your blog. I feel like you are my friend, even though I am not so well known to you.
I want to thank you for this post. I have been ill for many years now and am struggling to rebuild my writing life—novels, blogging, and poetry.
I journaled your reflection questions.
They filled me with a sense of purpose and joy.
Thank you.
I am writing fiction now, and have been preparing to relaunch my blog. Your post, I feel, was the key I needed to unlock that door.
God bless you!
Your Sister in Christ, Debby Zigenis-Lowery