What Would I Tell An Aspiring Writer?

1) Get used to waiting. (That's different than be patient.)

2)Don't get too used to waiting.

Writing is all about waiting. Waiting for the idea to ripen, waiting for the words to come, waiting for the sliver of time in your life to get time to write, waiting to hear from critique groups, agents, editors, cover artists, marketing people, booksellers, and finally readers. It can be exhausting. And discouraging.

The single most important thing I can say about that is - don't get too comfortable with it. Push. Many times I look back and know I should have pushed more. Pushed myself, pushed my agent, pushed for my books. I should have written more (right now I am finally finishing the manuscript of my heart, which I should have done sooner but I was waiting to hear something... anything... from editors).

DO SOMETHING. Even if it's a misstep, taking action will give you a sense of possibility, of power that just waiting for everything to work out robs you of. Write something else. Finish a piece. Create a website or blog. Go to writer's conferences. Learn, learn, learn, about craft, about new ways of publishing, about other writers, about the industry, about your own strengths and weaknesses. Then put what you learn into action. Try. Fail. Try again.

I have been in writer's groups all over the country. I have always been the most published writer in them. I have not always been the most talented writer in them. The biggest difference was that I did something. A lot of somethings. I kept at it.

I think it's summed up in a fortune cookie I got recently: Your ship is safe in harbor. But that's not what ships are for.

The weeks before I got my first book offer I stuck a note up on my bulletin board by my desk that said - If your ship hasn't come in, swim out to it.

Sink or swim. Set sail. Do something. Today.

Conincidence? I'm becoming confident of it.

I have heard it put in mathematical terms that a coincidence is when two things intersect or occupy the same place or are happening at the same time. That's a loose definition. In fact, in looking the word and its roots up there were a lot of different but similar definitions. I had to agree with the guy who said it was hard to use the term without getting into philosophy (he was a mathematician and of his whole article, that was one of the few sentences I actually understood!).

So philosophizing we will go! The particular coincidence, the thing occupying way too many points in my life right now is a lot like the term coincidence, it's the encouragement to "be confident". Confidence. Hmmm. Not my strong suit. Not as a person, a mom, a writer.

I'm more the - "Well, here it/I is/am. Sigh. I tried my best. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea. If I can just get enough feedback to keep at it, that would be fine" type. Some people might call that humility, others reality. I think in my house we'd have called it 'not tempting fate'. But as fortune cookies, devotionals, year end advice, even sermons kept hammering home the message these last 2 weeks - go forth in confidence, be confident, speak what you want with confidence, be confident in the Lord - I have decided to give it a try.

Oddly enough, just deciding to act from a place of confidence has colored my outlook. I am less worried the last few days. More of a mind that I can figure out the solutions if things don't go the way I hope. It feels like the world is more full of options than obstacles. It's a small thing, but it demonstrates the power words have over us. To chose to move forward with a new watchword can change so much. I have no concrete results to share but as I wait for word on the book of my heart, I am confident it will sell. It will be a book that others read. It will have a chance to reach others. It will be a good experience financially, editorially, and for me and my family. And it will lead to other opportunities. Just writing that makes me want to work harder to make that happen.

Coincidence? Yes, it is. The messages may have been out there the whole time but they finally intersected with me being ready to hear them, being open to applying them. Wishing you many purposeful and happy coincidences... and the confidence to act on them!