State of Mind: Motivation Part 1
By N. Bright
Rejection is inevitable
— if you’re writing and submitting on a regular basis. No doubt, being a writer requires self-discipline and a whole lot of confidence in your purpose.
After a while you have to learn how to let opinions roll off, and if you haven’t been able to take the critiques that go along with the publishing business, the time is now for a new mindset. Stop wasting creative energy fretting over things you can’t control. As long as you keep writing, polishing, learning story craft and submitting, at some point you will have success.
Sometimes though, I have to admit, there’s always that one comment that gets to me and makes me question the whole process. Was it really necessary for that critic to add one more jab after the ‘no’? These types of rejection makes me loose sleep wondering what I could have done differently. Maybe the ending doesn’t fit, maybe the middle sags, or maybe the beginning needs a prologue. Perhpas I need a complete redesign of the website, to work harder on my blogs or make an effort to be more active with my tweets. And then I become obsessed about working even harder and pushing myself to submit more. Good grief! Writing is the hardest work I’ve ever done.
Motivation to Keep Going
The few months of rejections and a few successes as well, got me to thinking about motivation.
As writers, how can we keep a positive attitude? How can we maintain our creative energy and be productive despite the ongoing criticism?
How-To by A Favorite Author
If you’ve lost your motivation to write and need some inspiration, find a how-to book about story craft written by one of your favorite authors.
TAKE JOY by Jane Yolen (published in 2003 by Kalmbach Publishing Company) is one of my favorite books on writing by one of the most prolific children’s authors of today, whose career span decades and includes hundreds of books. Right at the beginning of the book she states, “We are talking here about the difference between desire and obsession; between hobby and life. But in either case, I suggest you learn to write not with blood and fear, but with joy.”
Many best-selling authors have penned how-to books, and most are available as eBooks. For a small investment in your career, you can be reading one right after you finish reading this blog. There’s something inspiring and motivating about someone who has worked hard and found success.
Where do You Find Inspiration?
Over the next few posts, I’ll be sharing insight on motivation, and we’d love to hear from you, too.
Thanks for joining us at WordsmithSix!
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