My debut picture book, THE STORY CATCHER, will celebrate it's one year book anniversary on Wednesday and I have learned a lot along the way to becoming a published author. I find it hard to think of another industry than kidlit publishing with such a high percentage of passionately hopefuls. While it took me over three years of diligently working on improving my writing before I received my book offer, there are five other things I learned during this past year:
1. YOU'RE BETTER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE
Writers starting out in their careers are like beginner ice skaters. They wobble as they learn to get their feet under them and with the right amount of practice they are soon steady on their path to becoming a stronger writer. With the right amount of training and perseverance there may even be a chance they can become a star! Writers tend to be self-doubters but we really can become better than we think...
2. LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR
Sometimes newbie writers search to publish a story only their children or other family members have heard. Sometimes they think they must be the next great (insert mega famous author here) just because they managed to complete their debut novel of a mere 250,000 words. I learned early in my martial arts training that there is ALWAYS someone better than you and that goes for writers as well. There is ALWAYS something more to learn, more writerly wisdom to be learned by someone further along the publishing path than we are...
3. LEARN HOW TO BE A GOOD FRIEND
The actual act of writing can be a solitary endeavor but your writing career doesn't have to be. Everybody has to start somewhere in the kidlit world and there is a huge community of passionate, friendly people eager to lend a hang and help whenever needed to those on the same journey. No matter how celebrated some writers become, they always find a way to pay it forward and never forget to have good writing friends being one...
4. INVEST IN GOOD HIKING SHOES
Newer writers tend to look at the path to publication as a race and grab the first pair of running shoes handy. What they don't realize is the journey to becoming an author is actually more like a hike through a steep mountain range with highs and lows all along the way. Slow and steady will get a good writer to their destiny. That and a pair of good hiking shoes...
5. REMEMBER THE BLESSINGS NO MATTER HOW SMALL
As writers, it's easy to get caught up in things like writer's block, tough revisions that make us doubt our skills, and a stack of rejection letters for every story we're brave enough to send out into the world. That's why this month I created a blessings box where every day I try to write down at least one thing I'm grateful for. It could be a special friend who reminds me I deserve to be called an author whenever I doubt myself. Maybe it's a small contest I entered and was chosen as one of the winners. Whatever it may be, I write them down and save them for those low moments when I need a pick me up.
Not everything we learn as writers has strictly to do with the actual craft of writing. Sometimes the lessons learned simply make our writerly lives easier on our way to becoming published authors and that's okay by me!
My blessings box...;~)
