Livin' the Writing Dream - Tracy Krauss

To quote a good friend of mine, I'm "Livin' the dream..."

My writing dreams began in the mid-eighties when I started writing a novel as a creative outlet.  Before long, I dreamt of seeing my book in print someday, but for a very long time that seemed unrealistic. Just finishing was a daunting task as I snatched bits and pieces of time midst a busy life of motherhood, homeschooling, ministry, and part time work. 

But once that dream had been planted, it never vanished. Years later I finally had a finished manuscript. Then I took a giant leap and shared my precious baby. That's when I really found out what perseverance means. Rejection, discouragement and feelings of inadequacy became the norm. The school of hard knocks can be a cruel teacher, but is an effective one if you don't let it crush you. I was learning so much that I couldn't give in. It came down to a willingness to learn from my mistakes and carry on. There's no room for pride or defeat. 

Twenty-some years after the dream's inception, it finally became reality when my first book got published. This was before the self publishing revolution was wide spread, so I was fortunate to get a traditional book deal, even though the publisher wasn't one of the 'big six'. Still, I'm grateful since I learned a lot about the industry by working with editors, agents etc. What seemed like a pipe dream all those years before was suddenly coming true. I thought I'd finally "made it". 

Until... a new reality settled in very shortly after! I naively thought I could just sit back and let the royalties roll in! What a wake up call! Apparently, I was set to traverse another huge learning curve about marketing and promotion. I also realized that becoming rich and famous probably weren't part of the equation.

Fast forward to the present. Thirty-five years later, the writing dream is still alive and well. I am still compelled to write, but also still need to engage a good measure of self discipline in order to find the time, even though my children are grown and I've retired from teaching public school. Marketing and promotion are still a huge part of the game, and I keep learning new things everyday, just barely staying ahead of the curve. Some things never change!

Although the dream to write is still there, my expectations have changed, I think. The combined royalties from my twenty plus books and plays are higher than they were, but I haven't become rich and famous - and that's okay with me. I'm not concerned about the money. 

My new dream is to just keep on writing as many books as I possibly can before I run out of strength! (It is doubtful I will ever run out of ideas!) With the current DIY publishing options available, I can do this without having to wait for the gatekeepers (a.k.a. agents and publishers) to let me in. I've already republished several of my own titles as the rights have reverted back to me, and I plan to keep on publishing new books as I write them. 

If there is anything I hope readers take away it's this: Don't give up on your dreams! Dreams change and mature, but that doesn't mean they have to die. As my friend Russ always says, "I'm livin' the dream!" (And he just had a heart transplant!) 

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Tracy Krauss is currently serving as InScribe's president. With more than twenty novels, plays and books in print, she is still 'Livin' the dream" in northern BC. Visit her website for more information: https://tracykrauss.com  -fiction on the edge without crossing the line- 

Writing Dreams and Adaptive Creativity by Bob Jones

Aside from the Bible, I seldom read the same book more than once.  I’m ready for my third journey through Tod Bolsinger's, Canoeing the Mountains. 

Bolsinger uses the story of Lewis and Clark and their search for the Northwest Passage as a metaphor for adaptive change.  Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery endured 15 months of hard travel, a seemingly endless string of days of backbreaking upstream slogging, all for the purpose of discovering a water passage linking America, East to West.

Mosquitoes galore.

A dark, cold winter.

Grizzly bears.

The death of a companion.

 

The Corps of Discovery finally come to the source of the Missouri River. They found what no person of European dissent had before them. After 15 months of going upstream they looked forward to swiftly being carried down stream to the Pacific Ocean.

They could not have been more disappointed.

 

Stuck

They discovered that 300 years of experts had all been completely wrong. Everything they had accomplished was only a prelude to what was in front of them. What lay before them was nothing like what was behind them. There were no experts, no maps, no best practices and no sure guides who could lead them safely and successfully.

As a writer, do you feel like a canoeist who has run out of water? There is no writing route in front of you; no map; no quick fix or easy answer. You’re stuck. 

You may be excellent at what you do. You’ve written books or started a popular blog and even given seminars about writing well. But you’ve run out of creativity. The river is dry. As far as you can see, there are only towering mountains of frustration.

That’s the time for a conversation about canoeing. 

 

Writing Dreams

My dream is to write a book so helpful, readers want to go through it multiple times and then write blog posts to recommend it to their friends. I’ve been working to turn that dream into reality. But I was stuck. 

Bolsinger’s use of Lewis and Clark’s story got me unstuck. Have you discovered that what you're good at can hold you back from realizing your dream? 

Members of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery designed their own keelboats and learned to make canoes in the wild. They excelled at what they did.  Imagine what it’s like to be told, “Drop the canoe.”  Men whose hands had been shaped by the use of oars were told to ride horses. 

What is your canoe? What have you dropped to achieve your writing dream?

Please leave a comment below and start the conversation.

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Unleash Your Writing Dreams by Sandi Somers

Image by rawpixel in Unsplash

Do you have a dream of what your writing/published works could be? Lynn Simpson inspired this month’s theme with an earlier blog post:

I challenge myself and all of us,

to take a chance to unleash our writing

beyond the boundaries that may be tying up our creativity. 

And in celebration,

live out our lives as the masterpiece we are created to be.

Visioning Our Best Writing Selves

My most recent reset to unleash writing goals came this winter and spring. Our local writing group has been studying Julia Cameron’s Right to Write. In one exercise, she asked us to list things we wished we could do. I wanted my writers to take that exercise to the next levels, and so we spent a few minutes listing our writing wishes. 

To emphasize how imagination spurs us to accomplish our dreams, I read a blog post by Jack Popjes, part of which I've included here:

"We have the amazing God-given talent to picture in our mind

something that doesn't yet exist,

to mentally create situations that have not happened.

 Over time, we tend to accomplish the things we think about imaginatively.

The stronger and more emotionally we respond to our focused thinking and visualizing,

the surer the eventual outcome will match our mental picture."

 Knowing also that “a goal without a plan is just a wish,” I introduced the concept of “Visioning Our Best Writing Selves.” I asked each writer to list her wishes as accomplishments using this prompt: "By December of this year, I will have..." We were planning for specific success.

This was a powerful exercise and I recognized the amazing potential in each of our writers. It also put feet to my own desires and anchored me in working towards more concrete, achievable goals.

I continued writing wishes, journalling “dialogues” with God. I wanted to submit more articles, some on new topics and for new publications—and a number of ideas came to mind. Doing so meant I needed to be more consistent in my output. The author Mark Buchanan suggested completing 1,000 words of finished copy a week, something I have often accomplished since then.

Another major area that came into focus was clearer planning on a daily, weekly, short-term, and long-term basis. Both the book The 12 Week Year and our own Ellen Hooge’s Writer’s Planit have given me strategies to better organize my time and keep track of my progress. It's a step-by-step process.

One morning after I had written these and other dreams, I awoke to the Spirit’s voice: “Now give your desires to Me.” He will accomplish what I cannot do on my own. I just need to be faithful to His calling.

Now more than ever, God continues to encourage me with insight, wisdom, and strategies for my next steps. He promises to release my potential and the potential of my group of writers. And that promise is one I pray He will do for all of us:

Is there yet any seed left in the barn?

Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree

have not borne fruit. "From this day on I will bless you."

~Haggai 2:19~

~ ~ ~

How is God nudging you (or has nudged you)

to make your writing dreams a reality?

What are small or large steps you can take now?

This week? This month?

What advice would you give to those struggling to accomplish their dreams?