Hello to my faithful blog readers! It’s been almost a month, pretty much anyways, since I last wrote my blog. You’re probably thinking, “Well that pretty much captures her dedication to writing, doesn’t it?”
That would probably be a safe assumption. After all, when I first began my blog, I talked about weekly blog posts, and now, only a few months in, I am writing weeks apart. I’m sure other writers suffer from this. Most probably don’t admit it. I’m amateur enough, or honest enough (not sure which) to admit that I’ve not been putting my writing as a top priority. In fact, I’ve let it slip to almost non-existent. ”Why”, you might ask.
I just felt well…like I was wasting my time. My writing isn’t getting any better; my ideas were just not flowing, every time I tried to write it was a struggle, endless hours staring at the blank screen. Typing words and then deleting them, I succumbed to the nasty bitch – Little Miss Self Doubt that sits on my shoulder. You know the one that says “why are you wasting your time? You’ll never sell any of this, who would buy it? You’re not good enough”, and on and on she goes. Little Miss Self Doubt had actually moved from my shoulder to right smack inside my head. In an effort to combat the little bitch I decided I would double down on listening to writing podcasts. After all I surmised, if I wasn’t actually writing I should at least learn from those that are successful. Maybe the likes of the Mark Dawson’s and Nick Stephenson’s of the writing world could inspire me.
I also listen to the soft encouraging voice of Joanna Penn from the Creative Penn podcast talk about how she recently put her family first and pulled out of a walking marathon that she had been planning for months. “She still managed to meet her writing deadlines”, oh Little Miss Self Doubt snickered. Finally, after a couple of weeks of being beat up by Little Miss Self Doubt, I made the decision to listen to a couple of audio books I had in my library. Maybe THIS would get me motivated again. Wrong! It only left me feeling less competent, these stories were brilliant, the words perfect and it all flowed so nicely. I was captivated by the twists and turns of the two physiological thrillers I had chosen from my audible library. ‘Well that didn’t work out’ I said to myself. “Told you so”, Little Miss Self Doubt chimed in. The annoying little bitch, I really wanted to thrash her! ‘Okay’ I thought, ‘I will listen to Johanna Penn’s, Business For Authors audio book’. I have the paper back as well but it was a rainy Sunday and I needed to clean up my tack room – a job I had been putting off for months and I thought listening to Joanna speak I would feel like I had a friend along while I tended to this mundane task. For those that are not horsey, which I’m assuming most are not, a tack room is where you store all the equipment for horses. The saddles, bridles, brushes, blankets etcetera. My tack room needed a major overhaul and spring clean and a rainy Sunday I thought was the perfect time.
While I listened to Joanna tell me the definition of an author-entrepreneur and how one manuscript can be turned into multiple levels of income and that a true author-entrepreneur tries new things, accepts failure (‘did you hear that Little Miss Self Doubt’) and most of all one must pivot when necessary. Pivot seems to be a bit of a buzz word I’ve seen allot recently. Sage Lavine, the woman who wrote Women Rocking Business, uses it in her book and on her weekly live Facebook posts. “Pivot ladies”, she beams from her beautiful California office, her whiter than white smile taking up most of the screen. ‘Easy for her to say’, I grumble to myself, ‘she’s making six figures plus and I doubt she’s had to pivot in years’.
Pivoting it seems is a familiar word in the business world and as Joanna and others keep telling us, being an Indie Author is a business. So in that context, if your first business model isn’t working, then the CEO and surrounding team pivot to plan B. From what I understand, these are deep breath moments. When you pivot it doesn’t mean it is out of desperation, no it can be the way to discover additional growth or the opportunity to look at something with a different lens that you might have other wised overlooked.
I decided a pivot in my attitude is required – a definite deep breath. ‘Yes that was it’, I needed to pivot and perhaps in doing so ‘I will run right over Little Miss Self-Doubt’. One can only hope! I feel a little smile coming across my face. Oh dear, those psychological thrillers have unlocked my imagination after all.
Keeping in today’s theme here is my quote for the week. Now it’s time to get back to writing! Have a great week.
Tamara
A pivot is a change in strategy without a change in vision.
Eric Ries
Tamara Mercer 