Believe In Yourself

This is for any writer who reads my blog.

Believe in yourself!

You will get a ton of criticism in your life. It's inevitable. Why? Because it's human nature. Maybe they want to make themselves feel better. Maybe it's because they want to "help" you. Maybe your art simple wasn't their taste. Regardless, the so-called feedback generally has nothing to do with you. Worse, it hurts (especially when it comes from someone you hold in high esteem and you want to impress them). And in the end, it all sucks.

If you want to succeed in life, you need to believe in your own talents and dedication to achieve your goals. You will be told by your critics that they are only looking out for your best interests. Heck, they often believe their words. But as the proverb says, the road to hell is paved by good intentions.

The best method o deal with criticism is to set aside your emotions and consider where the comment is coming from. Is there any truth to what the critic is saying? Is it something that needs to be improved in your art? Or is itsimply that your art isn't to your critic's taste?

For example, I've learned not to show my romance books to my SFF friends and vice versa. Very rarely do these fandoms cross genres. And that's okay. But these opinons will be colored by the persons' preferred genres.

If the criticism is more specific, like X section seems a little slow, or the heroine said this in Chapter 2 but does the exact opposition in Chapter 21 fo no apparent reason, then you have some to work on. Assuming you agree with the critic.

Then, there's times where someone tells you your story sucks. There's no specific reason why. You simply need to brush that kind of crap aside. It's not helpdful to you, and it says more about the person saying those kinds of thing.

Some writers think if they license one book to trad publishing, their career is made. This is not necessarily true. Yeah, your agent will tell you your book is the greatest thing they's ever read. Yeah, it makes you feel good, but it's not any different than the person who says your writing sucks. Something else is going on that has nothing to do with your writing. Maybe your book is exactly what a publisher said they were looking for. Maybe there's a hole in the publisher's schedule they need to fill.

No matter what anyone else thinks, the only person who really believes in your talent is you. No matter what path you take, make sure it's the path you want, not what someone else who claims to be "helping" you wants

So l said above, believe in yourself. Because no one else will care about your book as much as you do.

Believe in Yourself

Writers as a whole are an odd lot.

Where other artists constantly practice their chosen form, writers expect themselves to be perfect on the first try.

Where other artists learn the skills and tricks of their trade, writers refuse to even do a quick google on what point-of-view is.

Where other artists spend months and years learning their chosen form of expression, writers expect instant success.

But the one thing other artists do that writers fail to do time and time again? They believe in themselves. 

They enjoy their art for the sake of their art. They don't care what everyone else thinks. They perform or paint or sculpt because they enjoy it. They want to improve. They want to excel out sheer joy.

If you don't enjoy writing, if you're trying to earn someone's approval, or if you think writing a novel will bring you instant fame, then you're writing for all the wrong reasons.

But most of all believe in yourself and write your stories for you.

Coronavirus Pandemic Day 573 - Another Small Publisher in Trouble

Known cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. - 43,910,849
Known deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S.- 706,114

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The New York Times ran a story in Saturday's edition concerning the recent Blushing Books scandal. 

Like the Ellora's Cave saga six years ago, Blushing Books ran into fiscal problems with the rapid turn of writers to indie publishing. There's also questions of altered and unfair contracts.

Folks, no matter how charming someone is, check their background before you do business with them. I see too many writers getting themselves into bed with unscrupulous people just to get the feeling of being validated, the feeling of being "the chosen one".

As a result, writers lose money and worse, the rights to their intellectual property.

Look, I know it's scary to do your own publishing. However, no one can tell you you're good enough, EXCEPT YOU.

Trust in yourself. Trust your talent. Trust your stories. There's an audience out there for your books.