Write Your Own Story

Make sure you check out the Inspired Novelties Featured Item of the Week! This week’s item was inspired by one of my favorite poets. And remember, 50% of all sales this month go toward the Wartella Family’s adoption of 2 children from Ethiopia! 

Being a writer can be challenging.

Yeah. You know. The whole, coming up with something to write thing.

And finding the best  nicest goodest perfect word.

Dealing with near constant rejection.

Learning how to manage the emotions surrounding said constant rejection.

Realizing that writers are a bit more sensitive than the average person and that said constant rejection damages deeply.

Getting to the point where said rejection feels like a numb stab in the heart.

Wait.

Sorry.

Back on track here.

But, seriously. The rejection is tough. And we just keep setting ourselves up for it. Every time we hit “send” on an email with a manuscript attached…man alive.

Right.

Focus, Susie.

Honestly, I’ve been rejected. Several times. Did you know that a few years ago someone rejected me with the words, “You are not a writer. Find something else to do”?

True story.

It hurt. I threw up. Felt like a fool.

Then I determined to use those words to push me forward. A year and a half later, my first play was published. And now, I have a novel releasing in January, 2013 (Paint Chips…it’s going to be great. Shameless plug…you’re going to get used to it).

Anyway. Rejection, for the determined writer, is like giving a latte to a four year old. It gets us hopping and restless and ready to get to work.

You know what will kill the writer’s soul? And I don’t mean that it will weaken it or distract it. No. I mean KILL it. Snuff the life out. Strangle out the beauty and the art and creativity.

The one thing that will destroy the writer is….

Comparison.

“I write better than he does.”

“She’s so much better than I am.”

“I’ll never have that success.”

“I can’t believe that he got that agent. I should have that agent.”

“How is this junk getting sold at Barnes and Noble? Who reads this crap?”

Comparison starts in the toes and works its way up to the neck. That’s where it gets tight, wrapping itself around us so many times that we can’t get any breath. We just suffocate.

We get paralyzed when it’s time to write because we’re focusing so much on everybody else.

Our conversations turn bitter. All we can think to talk about is how other people get what we should have. Or how we’ll never be as good/sell as many books/score the big publisher like that other writer.

We allow fear to enter into our art. And the fear makes us desperate. Undisciplined.

The cycle of comparison continues as some writer out in Facebook land finishes her 76th novel only to start the next day on number 77.

We Can’t Live This Way.

I know I can’t.

Comparison is a sour drink.

But.

But.

But.

When we choose to be ourselves, we can accomplish so much more.

We train our eyes to our own fingers moving across our own keyboard. We watch our letters appear across our screen. Sentences that belong to us. Paragraphs that reflect our soul, heart, passion. Pages and pages of us.

Not Miss 77th novel.

Not Mr. Has the agent we wanted.

Not Mrs. Not that great a writer, but keeps getting book deals.

Because they have different lives. Different families and homes and jobs and responsibilities. They are not us. We are not them.

I am what I am.

You be you.

Live the life that God has given you. Not the life He gave to someone else. Or the life you THINK He gave them.

Write your own story.

Tell me…what are of your life do you often let get tangled in the comparison game? Do you have any funny stories that go along with it? How did you overcome this issue? Or how are you working toward overcoming it?