Title: Rut-Busting Book for Writers
Author: Nancy Christie
Genre: Nonfiction/Writing & Publishing
Book Blurb:
Are you in a writing rut? In the award-winning RUT-BUSTING BOOK FOR WRITERS, you’ll find strategies to get you unstuck, along with inspiring words and proactive suggestions from other writers who have “been there and done that” and are now willing to share their knowledge and experience. By following the tips in this book, you’ll spend less time trapped in your particular writing rut and more time following your creative passion!
Excerpt from THE POWER OF PASSION chapter:
By its very nature, writing is a solitary pursuit. Even if you belong to a writing group or take writing classes, spend your writing time in a café or library, the reality is that, wherever you are and whomever you are surrounded by, you are still alone in your head, writing.
And that very aloneness can lead to a host of conflicting emotions about yourself and your writing ability. You love to write and can’t imagine doing anything else, but then… you learn that a writer friend got an agent and you wonder what’s wrong with you that you don’t have one.
Another writer had his article accepted and you ask yourself why all you receive are rejections. Or after attending a workshop on freelance writing where everyone else talks about their six-figure incomes, you look at your last year’s profit-and-loss statement and see that it reflects just a five-figure one—in the low five figures, no less.
When the writing isn’t going well—or isn’t going at all!—it’s so easy to wonder why you are doing it, if you’re being foolish or selfish to devote time to what could be considered a long shot instead of making a more practical and reasonable choice. And along the way, you lose sight of the motivation that drives you to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.
The reality is that it’s not always so easy to feel good about writing—or about yourself as a writer. Your expectations about what being a writer should be (triggered by the comparison game) can often make you doubt yourself and your abilities.
You imagine that all the other writers wake up each morning full of confidence and creative fire and go to bed each night satisfied with their literary accomplishments. And because you don’t always feel that way, you put yourself in a different class or on a lower level—or maybe not even in the “writer” category at all.
When I hold my “Rut-Busting” Workshops for Writers, one of the very first activities I have the participants do is introduce themselves to all the other attendees. But this is no quick “Hi, I’m Mary” exercise. Instead, each one has to follow the same script: “Hi, I’m Mary, and I’m a successful writer,” or “Hi, I’m Joe, and I’m a successful writer.”
While there’s always a certain amount of laughter during the exercise, it’s obvious that some people have trouble using the word “successful” while others balk at claiming the title “writer.” Their responses go something like this:
• “I’m not really a writer. I mean, I write but I haven’t been published.”
• “Successful? Not really. I’m working on something but I don’t know if I can finish it.”
• “I’ve had a story [or a poem or an essay] published but I didn’t get paid, so I guess I’m not a real writer.”
All those “buts” that need to be busted!
The only requirement to claim the title of “successful writer” is that you write as often as you can, as much as you can and to the best of your ability.
You can’t look to external sources for your validation as a writer because that puts you at the mercy of readers and reviewers, people who measure your ability by the money you’ve been paid or the places you’ve been published. Remember: You are a writer as long as you write. How you identify yourself with regard to your writing can make all the difference. It can either ignite your passion or dampen it to the point where the flame flickers and finally dies out.
The second rule is to think about your reasons for writing. Why do you want to write? What does the act of writing bring into your life? It’s the process, even more so than the result—fame, fortune, publication—that drives so many writers. Not that being recognized as a writer or having an SRO crowd for a book signing isn’t a thrill! But eventually, it all comes down to just you and the blank sheet or screen, and without feeling the passion for writing alive in you, you can find it well-nigh impossible to start again.
So how do you know if you have that passion? How can you identify those times when the desire to write has burned most strongly inside you? Ask yourself:
• Have you ever become so involved in a writing project that you forget where you are or how you feel, forget about what is worrying or upsetting you?
• Have you ever felt so committed to writing that nothing else matters—not how hard you have to work at it or how much time you are spending doing it?
• When you are engaged in writing, does it make you feel better about yourself? Do you feel like this is what you were meant to be doing, that you are using the gift—the talent and ability—that you were given?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you have found your writing passion. Passion takes you out of yourself and beyond your own needs and awareness. It transports you to a place where time and effort are meaningless. When you spend time doing that about which you feel most passionate, you fill your life with energy and joy.
Finally, think about the concept of success: what being successful means to you, how you define it, how you will know that you have achieved it. Whether you do it for money or simply for love, whether everyone reads your work or no one has even heard of you, the act of writing, in and of itself, is something to be honored. It brings you a sense of completeness and joy, the realization that you are doing not only what you want to do but also what you are meant to do.
Buy Link:
NOTE: The eBook will be available for .99 until 9/30/21. The sale price is only good when purchased through the MyBookOrders.com Sales Page:
https://secure.mybookorders.com/Orderpage/2024 with code SuperSale
What makes your featured book a must-read?
Being in a writing rut is a common problem for writers. But with the expert advice from more than 50 writers, editors and marketing experts, you’ll learn how to get out of your specific rut and make progress toward your writing goals. Plus the extensive Resources section will provide you with plenty of additional help!
Enter to win a $20 Amazon (US) gift card:
Open Internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Canada account to win.
Runs September 21 – September 29, 2021.
Winner will be drawn on September 30, 2021.
Author Biography:
Nancy Christie is the award-winning author of two short story collections: Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories and Peripheral Visions and Other Stories (both from Unsolicited Press), two books for writers: Rut-Busting Book for Authors and Rut-Busting Book for Writers (both from Mill City Press) and The Gifts of Change (Atria/Beyond Words). Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous print and online publications. The host of the Living the Writing Life podcast and the founder of the annual “Celebrate Short Fiction” Day, Christie teaches writing workshops at conferences, libraries and schools. Christie is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) and the Florida Writers Association (FWA).
Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NChristie_OH
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/nancychristiewr/