Blogger: Rachel Kent
I asked some published authors to share with us what they do when they become discouraged in their writing. This happens to everybody, even those who are published!
Multi-published authors still experience rejections and sometimes have heartbreaking things happen to them–like canceled contracts or books going out-of-print long before they should have. Sometimes an editor is let go from a publishing house when he or she was the person championing the project. There are many ways for an author to become discouraged in his or her writing.
These quotes come from authors who have experienced a hurt or two in their careers, but they didn’t quit. Here’s what they have to say in answer to the question, What keeps you writing when you are faced with discouragement?
“I have been discouraged twice when I received the ‘good news’ that I was getting a multiple book contact only to have it fall through because of a change in publishing direction. When I received the bad news on both accounts, I had a little pity-party, and then (eventually!) I surrendered myself and my writing to God. I knew He had a good plan for my writing… and if doors were closing, then there were perhaps other plans I didn’t know yet. I didn’t let these closed doors keep me from writing. Instead I looked at other areas where I felt God had been speaking to my heart. In both cases God brought different projects to replace the ones I lost…I also learned that this journey isn’t about me. It’s about God and what He’s doing in the world. I also learned that closed doors can be new opportunities to share God in ways I hadn’t thought of before!”
“My passion for story keeps me writing. I cannot not write. To quit is to forgo my purpose in life, and I’ll only do that when the casket is closed. Is it faith in the God who purposed me to write? Or is it the driving passion for story? Or is it both? I think it’s both.”
“Having to pay my bills, for one thing. 🙂 But more to the point, I keep writing because it’s my gift/talent from God, and I’m happiest and most content in my relationship with Him when I use it. Been doing so for 35+ years and have never resisted going to my desk to write–regardless of the outcome. Of course I have discouraging days like everyone, but for me, pushing through gets me through!”
“I try to set aside time to sit and listen and journal. It seems this is when the Lord always shows me the big picture and nudges me to the next step. Over the years I’ve ‘heard’ His direction more when I’m silent before Him than in all the long conversations I have with others about my woes.”
“Yesterday I was at a library speaking and a woman, enthralled by how many books I’d published, asked me,'”Can you tell me how you used to get through all those rejections?’ I said, ‘Used to? I just got a manuscript rejected three different times last week!’ With each point of success, there are new ways to fail, so keep your chin up. It’s not about avoiding failure. It’s about how you face it.”
“It’s only a book. Besides, in God’s economy my failures have taught me a lot more than my successes. Best to just keep pedaling.”
“I’m a writer. That’s what I do. So I keep on writing, no matter the circumstances. The reality is that I can’t not write. As for what gets me back on track when need be? My agent.”
Shirlee Abbott
“In God’s economy my failures have taught me a lot more than my successes.”
Oh yes! God sets our worldly economy upside down. It is more blessed to give than to receive. The lowly servant is higher than the master. And my failures teach me to trust and obey.
Thank you, Rachel, for sharing these wise words of experience. Each of us here will find a phrase that speaks to our hesitant hearts.
Rachael Phillips
What excellent perspectives! They’re especially helpful to a groggy author rising at 4:30 each morning to finish a novel that’s not yet contracted. I appreciate the always timely reminders that I am God’s, and so is my writing. I also love the line, “With each point of success, there are new ways to fail”! I’ve found that even my successes breed a whole new flock of complications I hadn’t anticipated. How glad I am that God is God of the publishing industry, as well as my own little writing world.
Melinda Ickes
Passion for story – yes. My critique group – without doubt. This blog community – for sure. Our Father – always. When I am discouraged, all of these are what keep me going.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
It’s hard to underestimate the importance of a crit group – I would love to see the Books and Such team address this in a future post.
peter
Rachel, differing perceptions about God’s hand in all of this, oft bemuses me. Some are cynical about any presumption on a writer’s part that God’s hand is in it, others dismiss such talk as name-dropping. However, it seems (if your sources are representative), that the reality for persistent authors is that not much would have happened without Him. He is both agony and ecstasy, for He instills the passion and doggedness to walk roads that traverse deserts of mixed perspectives. Yet, little substance would come from the tourist route. We gain perspective and meaning in the classroom of contradictions, without which we risk being hypothetical or shallow. The struggle also ensures our relevance to a world in need, leading to the most desirable of all platforms: the right to speak into their lives.
Rachael Phillips
“Deserts of mixed perspectives” vs. the “tourist route”–love the truths those terms communicate, Peter! We writers absolutely must travel the wandering side roads, not merely speed along the interstates, in order to share our readers’ lives and speak to them.
peter
Yup Rachael. To get to a place where we make telling hits, we need to get through places where we make telling misses.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Peter…wow. You make the profound and veiled sound self-evident, as it ultimately is.Thank you for this comment; I suspect it will resonate with many.
Rachel Kent
Beautifully said!
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Keeping up one’s morale is something that requires a good bit o intentionality. I face it almost every day; discouragement does its best to creep in. For what they may be worth to others, here are some techniques I use –
* The ‘one more hour’ method. I tell myself I only have to do this for one more hour; then I can quit. That works for everything from writing to Hell Week at BUD/S (though in the latter case, an hour might be too much – ten minutes may be a better fit). When time’s up, the desire to quit has usually passed.
* Connections – this is particularly important to me, as I’m functionally a shut-in (though ‘in’ includes being outside more than inside). I have no phone, and the only human I talk with is my wife, so online communities like this are extremely important. I participate when I am physically able, even if I might not be able to think of much to say. It’s all about showing up, and being recognized as a member of something bigger than my physical world.
* A professional routine – I treat writing, and particularly blogging, as a professional obligation, and I don’t miss posts, or my own deadlines. Last night I was very ill indeed, and would have given a lot NOT to have to write a Five Minute Friday post at 2000, when the keyword became ‘live’ for me. But it had to be done, and I felt better for doing it.
* Professional dress – neat, clean outdoor clothes, shoes, and socks. No bathrobe, no flip-flops. I am ready to face the world, even if not a part of it.
* No swearing. Hard for me, but not going into Tourette Mode sharpens my mind and attitude; it’s discipline.
* No sad or negative music, or music that has a negative connotation for me – however much I may ‘like’ it.
* I don’t watch or listen to the news. So much of it is bad, and the negative is emphasized, because that’s what brings ratings. My body’s doing enough bad things to me.
* I do watch and read things that are uplifting, and will quickly drop any ‘downers’. I’ve abandoned a lot of ‘good’ books and movies, but I don’t owe them anything – I do owe it to myself to give myself the best chance to function well, and to contribute.
Rachel Kent
I consider flip-flops professional dress, but other than that I agree with everything here!
Thank you, Andrew. 🙂
Hannah Vanderpool
The sum of these authors’ responses to failure or discouragement seems to be: what other choice do we have but to write? And, really, that’s how I feel.
peter
right
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
That’s one aspect I’ve never felt; what is it like to ‘need to write’? I LIKE to write, as I like a lot of other things, but there’s no compelling need to do any of them.
* Barbara calls me a Klingon; I have no ‘need’ for anything but honour, and honour drives everything I do.
* But then, to quote Christopher Plummer…you’ve never read Shakespeare until you’ve read it in the original Klingon. So I feel vindicated; Pain Stiks, anyone?
peter
faces on stun, then
Meghan Carver
Thank you, Rachel and authors. I’m keeping this in my encouragement file for when I need a pick-me-up.
Sarah Bennett
“It’s only a book. Besides, in God’s economy my failures have taught me a lot more than my successes. Best to just keep pedaling.” Exactly. I have learned to stop with my failures. No, I don’t stop writing, but I stop and listen to what the Lord is trying to teach me. Do I need to brush up on grammar? Is my POV strong enough? Was this the story on my heart or did I change it to suit the needs of who I’m submitting it to? Sometimes God hits me on the head with the answer, other times it’s more subtle. Thank you for the encouragement, Rachel!
Morgan Tarpley
“Yesterday I was at a library speaking and a woman, enthralled by how many books I’d published, asked me, ‘Can you tell me how you used to get through all those rejections?’ I said, ‘Used to? I just got a manuscript rejected three different times last week!’”
This is hard to fathom, but definitely encouraging. It’s a great reminder that just publishing that first book is not the main or end goal – there are so many steps to be taken and retaken after that.
And I applaud that author for being honest with the woman at the library because our pride definitely could get the better of us in a similar situation. Thanks for the great info, Rachel! 🙂
Davalynn Spencer
Thanks for sharing these encouraging words, Rachel. The same undercurrent supports each testimonial: Writing is God’s gift, keep using it. Regardless.
Shelli Littleton
What keeps me writing when I am faced with discouragement? The desire to be a better writer, the joy of writing the story that I love, and the people here. 🙂
Rachel Kent
Thank you all for stopping by to comment! I’m glad the post was encouraging. And a shout out to the authors who contributed! THANKS!
Peter DeHaan
Without the rejections we wouldn’t appreciate our successes nearly as much.
Norma Brumbaugh
Sometimes I write because I must but most of the time I write because I have a message. It’s the message that compels me to get off my duff and get to work and try my best to say it, and in a way that people can receive it. I haven’t had the pleasure of any writing “successes” but I have had the joy of helping encourage others through the concepts I share on my blog. Discouragement is always close at hand. That’s a given. But doing what I know is my calling keeps me plugging a way anyways. I guess the truth is, we don’t want to waste the time if our writings never go anywhere. That is self-defeatng.
Peggy Booher
Norma,
I know by “writing successes” you mean acceptance by publishers, but consider that encouraging others is a kind of success too. Encouragement is something that there’s always a need for.
Peggy Booher
Rachel,
Thanks for such an encouraging post! Along with other information I read, the Books and Such blog is helping me discard a negative outlook for one more positive. It’s helping me see that the main thing is to keep going on, not to give in or give up.
Ken Thomas
Thanks so much for sharing. Being relatively new to writing I have found that it is very difficult to know what kind of an effect your words have on others. I do know that when I write somehow it pleases God. My prayer is that I will never pass up an opportunity to please the Master because of discouragement or lack of knowing what He wants to do with it. Thanks again for these words.