Blogger: Rachel Kent
We have a private Books & Such client Facebook group, and recently the authors were discussing what writing achievements they celebrate and how. Lots of ideas were shared; so I thought I’d bring all of you into the discussion.
Many writers seem to think that the only milestone worth celebrating is publication, but many milestones occur along the publishing path. Taking time to celebrate can help to keep you moving forward.
One of my best friends participated in the 5K Color Run in Sacramento last weekend. The Color Run is a national event, and many different cities host the races year round. It’s not a very competitive race, but all of the runners wear white, and at each kilometer marker a group of volunteers pelts the runners with color packets. By the end of the race you are covered in five different colors, and you look like a sweaty rainbow. Here’s the proof. Knowing that something exciting is waiting at the next kilometer marker helps the runners to enjoy the race more, they stay motivated and the time passes more quickly.
I think your publishing journey should be like the Color Run. At each milestone–publishing an article; finishing your manuscript; putting together your proposal; writing and submitting your query letter; getting manuscript requests; finding an agent; signing a publishing contract; seeing your book on the shelf–celebrate somehow. Hopefully your form of celebration doesn’t end in your looking like a sweaty rainbow, but if that’s what you enjoy, go for it! 🙂 Building in celebrations, big or small, will help you to stay motivated and to enjoy the sometimes grueling publishing process.
At what publishing milestones do you celebrate?
Are you motivated by setting goals, completing them and celebrating in some way?
How do you celebrate your publishing achievements and who do you celebrate with?
Ooh, I saw a picture about the Colour Run on Pinterest once… what a fun kind of race! Paint. The best kind of motivation.
I think I’ve just found the official way to celebrate writing milestones. Now to find some old clothes…
Your friend ran it? Does that mean you were on the sidelines, dousing her face in paint?;)
I would have pelted her from the sidelines if we lived closer. She had to drive two hours to Sacramento for the run. Maybe I’ll try running with her sometime in the future. This just wasn’t the year for me. 🙂
Rachel, I never thought about celebrating something other than a sale. I think you’re right. There should be a lot of other milestones celebrated to because it is a long, slow process.
I do set writing goals, but in the past I’ve just said, “Good. Next.” when I finished the goal. Think I need to change that. Now how to celebrate without it involving chocolate or too much money? Ideas, anyone?
I just heard about the color run. Some friends from church did it and were a little embarrassed Sunday when they showed up to church and still had a few spots of paint on them that they couldn’t get off! The pictures she took were amazing, though. She had a fabulous one of the end where everyone throws the paint in the air. She actually caught all the paint about an arm’s length above the crowd. 🙂
You could treat yourself to a walk in the park or to a day of reading your favorite book…
Nice idea, Rachel! 😀 I always read online that reading time is essential to a writer, but I tend to feel guilty when reading because I could be writing… 😀 It’s good to do things to recharge and celebrate. Now I need to remind myself of this more often.
P.S. The Color Run has now come to New Orleans! I will miss it this year, but I want to do it next year. It looks awesome!
That race is such a cool idea!!
At my point in the writing journey, my insides do a little happy dance when I submit an article to each of the blogs I contribute to. I celebrate even more when I receive kind words on my writing. I do try to celebrate when I submit an article or query letter, but perhaps I should work on celebrating with more than just nervous shaking and sweaty email-inbox-checking, right?
Thanks, Rachel!
Email inbox checking is all about the nervous shaking:) and the self-control to not check every ten minutes!
Lol! Yes, I think you need to find a better way to celebrate than checking your emails over and over again.
And there might be a Color Run in your area. If you like the idea you should try it! 🙂
What an awesome post! I love the encouragement in it.
So far, I’ve celebrated several milestones: starting a blog and reaching over 100 posts, finishing my first novel, finishing multiple revisions of my first novel, submitting my novel to publishing peeps, getting kind rejections for that novel (okay, so at first I didn’t celebrate, but I choose to take the positive things said in the rejections and hold onto those!)…
And soon, I’ll be celebrating my attendance at my first major conference. Yay!
Also, Monday night I had a majorly awesome brainstorming session with my CP for my second book. I’m so excited about where this book can go…and that’s worth celebrating.
How do I celebrate? With ice cream, of course. 😛
Everything is better with ice cream, Lindsay. 🙂
And ice cream is always better with Hershey’s chocolate syrup. 🙂 Celebrate!
Ice cream!! My favorite.
I love ice cream.
We should be friends! lol My CP & I celebrate with ice cream too! 😀
I celebrate every morning I write with a cup of coffee, every chapter with a refill, and every completed book with a week of sleeping in!
Now that sounds like something I can do!
How can you sleep after all of that coffee? 🙂
Loved this post, Rachel. You’re right, celebrating milestones along the way encourages and prods us/me forward. 🙂 So far, I’ve celebrated writing “The End” on my fast draft. I plan to celebrate when I send my book out into the world (later this year, hopefully). I like Lindsay’s ideas of things to celebrate. Maybe when I begin my blog I’ll celebrate getting it up and running.
When I celebrated, “The End,” my husband took me out for dinner. He brought our kids into the celebrating by surprising me with popping a cork on a bottle of sparkling cider. I have friends who celebrate with me too, which spurs me onward.
Love the idea of a color race. I’m going to have to think on how I can take the idea and “run with it,” in a way that works for me. I’m not a runner. 😉
I always appreciate your posts, Rachel–you have an encouraging voice.
Jeanne, I’ve been meaning to tell you…if you would like any help at all with starting up your blog, I can offer some support, etc. 🙂 Not that I’m an expert, but I can be a cheerleader for sure! I’m anxiously awaiting it. You always have such great things to say on this blog and others I see you on.
Thanks, Lindsay. You made my day. And I’d love help, but maybe in a few weeks. Trying to prep everything for ACFW on very limited time. 🙂
No problem, Jeanne! Whenever! I know what you mean about ACFW prep. Can’t wait to meet you there.
You’re on the right track! You should definitely celebrate when you get your blog up and you can include your new readers in your celebration too by hosting a book giveaway or something to draw more traffic. I’d suggest an ice cream giveaway but it would melt in the mail.
I love that idea, Rachel. And I’d love to send ice-cream. Hmmm, maybe I can send gift cards for ice-cream? 🙂
I like to have champagne on hand any time I’m expecting big news. If it’s good news, my husband and I can celebrate with some bubbly. If it’s bad news, he can console me with the same. Really, it’s a win-win ; )
Love this!
Love it, Sarah!
Love this illustration, Rachel!
AND I’m doing the Portland Color Run in Portland at the end of September. 😉
Like the t-shirt is a badge of honor for the runners, I find each rejection, each draft, each email correspondence with my fabulous agent as a badge of honor in the publishing process.
I wear them all proudly and look forward to the next barrage of paint!
🙂 You’ll have to share pictures on Facebook.
Goal setting is so important. I find if I don’t set weekly goals I kind of wander off into my own world and don’t accomplish much.
I don’t usually celebrate articles–unles you count transfering that money from PayPal to my bank account. 🙂 When I finish a manuscript, I give myself a week off from writing and read more instead. I received an unexpected contract this week for my next picture book. I celebrated by treating the family out to lunch. I love cooking, but not having to do it every once in a while is fine too.
Thanks for an inspiring post, Rachel. Love the photos from the run.
Congratulations on the contract! I’m glad you celebrated with your family.
Congratulations, Cheryl!
Thanks Christine and Rachel. I like those kinds of surprises.
Great comparison, Rachel- and what fun! I agree; celebrating each step not only helps mark the journey with meaningful moments, but also keeps a heart thankful. It’s so tempting sometimes- on this or ANY road, really- to overlook what a miracle the present moment is, perhaps take it for granted, or lose sight of it in the shadow of the “end goal” (a concept I blogged a little about today)– but failing to be thankful and recognize each moment for the joy it is, or the purpose it has, can leave us ungrateful, unsatisfied, discouraged… tragic, when there is such joy to be had along the way! Thanks for this reminder. 🙂 Oh, and my celebrations inevitably involve a perfect cup of tea– and maybe a quiet walk, drive, or outing. As an introvert, celebrating looks more like a quiet oasis for me than an all-out party.
I’m a fan of quiet celebrations too. I love going out to dinner or going to the beach to sit and watch the waves.
I definitely try to enjoy each stage of the journey. How do I celebrate? Maybe just with a big smile and a hug. And maybe some ice cream. Or cake ; )
I like your ways of celebrating the small steps. Hugs and cake=perfection
I love this post! I think even meeting your word count goal each day makes it feel like you’re getting somewhere. Reaching 20,000 words, 50,000 or whatever seems small, but it definitely adds up in the end.
Exactly!
I completely agree, Alex.
I totally agree, Alex. Arbitrary milepost celebrations are so much fun. Ice cream cones, movies, a meal out, tickets to a ball game. There are so many great ways to celebrate!
I have a great weekly critique group, Tuesday’s Children, that have been meeting for over 13 years. Whenever one of us has a new book published, we celebrate at a nearby Mexican restaurant.
Wow! 13 years?! Amazing. I love that you all celebrate as a group.
This is a great reminder to be thankful for little steps forward. Sometimes the big picture seems so far away, I don’t remember to be thankful for the small steps that get me there.
Thanks for the great reminder.
Thanks for the comment, Lisa. I’m glad the post was encouraging.
Oh, thank you so much for these thoughts, Rachel! I totally forget to celebrate most of my writing successes, always waiting for that big “I’m getting published” break. I will tell you that I was EXTREMELY ELATED when I landed a great agent, but I think that because I’d just finished churning out the revisions, I didn’t take time to whoop and holler as much as I should have! And when I finished writing my novel, I just felt relief that it wrapped up the way I wanted it to (I was so exhausted). Sometimes I think being so goal-driven gets in the way of seeing the smaller joys around me, but I’m going to try!
It’s never too late to celebrate. You should take yourself to get some frozen yogurt today in celebration of finishing the book and getting an amazing agent. 🙂
I’m a beginning runner. I’m on my fourth week of the Couch to 5k program. I can’t believe I’m actually doing it, so after each workout I text my husband with some version of “I did it! I didn’t think I’d make it through this workout but I did!”
I used to send him similar messages about writing. Things like, “I finished a chapter” or “my critique group liked my stuff today” but I haven’t done that in awhile. It’s easy to lose sight of the goal and lose your joy in the long slog toward the finish line. But you’re right, choosing to celebrate along the way is so important.
I think one reason it’s hard is that in the beginning every step feels like a victory. You’re closer to your goal. But in the middle of your struggle it can feel like you’re not making any progress at all. That’s when it’s important to have a critique group to remind you just how far you’ve come. No one know how to celebrate those milestones like other writers. I thank God for my writer friends!
Every time I sell a book I text my husband too. 🙂 He’s always excited for me and knows that my work is so much more than just a job for me so he understands all of the emotions that come with a sale for one of my clients.
I’m impressed with your couch to 5K program participation. I need to start something like that. I’m so out of shape and running just one mile seems like an impossibility.
My sister’s doing a Color Run in the fall.
Last summer I celebrated finishing my first novel with a pedicure. I’m easy to please and I love me a good pedicure. I’ll be finishing my second novel this week and I’m not quite sure yet what I’m going to do.
I also make every finish a milestone on my Facebook page.
A pedicure is a great reward! Now I want one. I better work toward a goal so I can go celebrate!
What a fun post! When I finish a novel, I take a week off, but usually I’m so excited about starting the next novel, that the week off gets frustrating midway. As much as I love to write, I love rewriting even more, so at the halfway point, I go back and rewrite what I’ve written so far. That’s a reward for sure and it also allows me to wrap in a few loose ends thither and yon.
After my first novel was published, I did buy myself something I’d wanted all my life – a grandfather’s clock. That was a very special celebration!
I love that! And now every time your clock chimes you think of a happy memory. 🙂 Fun.
I don’t know about other writers, but when I get a good idea and decide I want to write it, I party like it’s Fat Tuesday.
Because then I know comes the part where I’m holed up in a dark, dank writing cave until I’ve wrestled with demons, argued with angels, (and maybe with a slight bit of alchemy) transferred that onto paper.
And when THAT is done?
Cake.
Lots and lots and lots of cake. 🙂
Lol! Cake and some peace of mind I hope. After wrestling demons and arguing with angels I think some quiet time would be nice.
The color run sounded like fun — until I saw the pictures. I guess I’ll stick with writing.
Lol! It is pretty messy.
What a fun idea! That’s as close to painting as I’ll ever get, so might just have to look into that!!!
I bet there’s one near you.
Thanks for the reminder of this journey. I was thinking today that one or two points on a graph don’t equate a trend, and that I need to keep plotting onward toward the goal one point at a time…
That’s another great way to think about your publishing journey–as a graph. I like it!
I have MAJOR cause to celebrate! I just won a national writing contest with WestBow Press. We’re having a big to-do with family and friends tomorrow night. After this, I sure will be celebrating little milestones more often! 😉
Congratulations, Ashley! I’m very glad you are celebrating with family and friends too.
Fun post, Rachel.
I actually celebrated my first rejection letter. Seriously. A few reasons: The Lord has His hand on me and closed a door not intended for me to walk through, the fact that I have a rejection letter means that someone besides me knows that I wrote “THE END” on a manuscript, and I figure each rejection letter is one step closer to that shining star of The YES letter.
Blessings,
Becky
I admire your great attitude and trust in God’s plan. Keep up the celebrating!
I have a bit of a book buying problem, and two years ago, I knew I had to get it under control. Enter my reward system. Anytime I reach a writing milestone or goal (from submitting my manuscript for its first professional critique to finishing a new book) I reward myself with a book I’ve been dying to read. It keeps me from going bankrupting and allows me to celebrate BEFORE that first contract comes along, God willing. Plus I get to indulge in someone else’s story, which I don’t usually let myself do during the drafting stage. 🙂
What a great solution!
Great advice. I’ve learned this from my eleven year old daughter who thinks many things are the “best thing ever.” She’s taught me to appreciate the little things in life. It’s so important in the publishing world where you work for so long without pay. You need to appreciate the little successes along the way: pageview increases on your blog, guest blog opportunities, good critiques, twitter mentions, award recognitions (even if you don’t actually win). I’ll take my colors, sweaty or not, and wear them proudly.
Your daughter has an amazing attitude! Love it.
I’ve always been big on setting goals for myself in life. I am that annoying person who doesn’t stop until I achieve them 🙂
With that being said, the only goals in my writing that I’ve celebrated have been finishing my manuscript and when an agent has asked to read it. The first time I received such a request, I burst into tears, called my husband and then my parents. After that agent passed, it dampened the excitement a bit for me 🙁 When the second agent requested it, I smiled and sent my husband a text instead. Now I feel like I shouldn’t get too excited until I hear positive news because I don’t want to jinx anything (I’m waiting to hear back from that agent).
I think I’ll take your advice and celebrate the achievement of more writing goals (finishing chapters, a word count, etc.) rather than just publication because it is an exciting process…it’s hard and frustrating, but very exciting as well. Thanks, Rachel!
The publishing journey is definitely an emotional roller coaster. It is a good idea to guard your heart and emotions a little.
Thanks for being on my color run, Rachel!!