Failure is Not a Four-Letter Word

by Michelle Griep

Newsflash: you are going to fail.

Some way, some how, you will fall and bloody your writerly knees, possibly your chin, and maybe even knock a few teeth out in the process. It can happen in many ways. A Tommy gun of a review will pepper your soul with bullet holes, or you find a piece of your writing used as a birdcage liner at your Great Aunt Nina's house. Maybe you just can't sell your manuscript because the writing is like a preschooler's.

Whatever mask failure parades around in, it's a guarantee that it will find you like a creepy stalker. Wearing a clown costume. And smelling of beer and gorgonzola.

So the question I pose to you today isn't what will happen if you fail, it's what will happen when you fail? Will you:

• Wail like a three-year-old on an all-day crying jag?
• Take out your angst on the dog, cat, chameleon or your mother?
• Quit writing? Just take your ball and go home?

How you handle failure exposes what's on the inside of you and how you view the world. My kids hate it when I say this, but you're not one of my offspring so I can stand on top of the table and shout:

"Failure is an opportunity. 

It's a gift-wrapped chance to go back to the drawing board and re-create."

If you change your mindset about failure, take away all of it's negative power and infuse it with positive, then you will eventually be a winner. Why? Because you won't have quit.

Failure is part of a writer's life. If you can't deal with that, then maybe you're not a writer. Yeah, that's an offensive statement, but perseverance and determination are the two qualities every successful writer owns.

So go out there and fail, little writers. Wait a minute. Fail is a four-letter word. Gah! I technically failed with my title. Hmm. Is that opportunity I hear knocking?

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Author Michelle Griep

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ~ MICHELLE GRIEP

Michelle Griep’s been writing since she first discovered blank wall space and Crayolas. Follow her adventures and find out about upcoming new releases at her blog, Writer Off the Leash, or stop by her website. You can also find her at the usual haunts of Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Like what you read? There’s more. WRITER OFF THE LEASH: GROWING IN THE WRITING CRAFT is a kick in the pants for anyone who wants to write but is stymied by fear, doubt, or simply doesn’t know how to take their writing to the next level.

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Pregnant and Waiting

by Normandie Fischer

Pregnancy is blessed, but there comes a time when a pregnant woman longs for the actual birth.

The last weeks of pregnancy compress the body and the soul. The mother’s womb has nurtured and cocooned her infant for almost nine months. She feels fat. Her contractions remain unfruitful, and there's often fear—for her baby and for herself. Some women—many women—fear failure and worry that all the work and all the waiting and all the preparation will be for naught. Because what if she fails?

Maybe we wrote it first on a manual typewriter, and it's still not a book!

We feel that way about our stories sometimes, don’t we?

Writers commiserate with one another. We talk about how long the process takes: the imagining, the writing, the polishing, and all that rewriting. The gestation period spans months or years, sometimes even decades. Our book baby’s pregnancy appears interminable. 

Our manuscript sits there, waiting, and fear settles on us. What if all our effort ends in something execrable, something even we as parents hate? What if our precious creation reads like nothing more than dribble, words without meaning, without substance? What if, after all, we’ve wasted all that energy, all those years? What if we fail?

All we want is for everyone to love our words.

On the other hand, what if we've convinced ourselves our work is the most beautiful compilation of words ever created? And what if—and we’ve all heard the horror stories—this masterpiece that came from our very being never finds a publisher?  Or what if our self-published work never finds readers? What if we fail?

To my delight, my daughter wants me at her side during her birthing experiences. As a second child and already larger than Little E, Finn seemed destined to arrive early, which prompted the doctor to suggest I hightail it north before Winter Storm Jonah paralyzed the city. I prepared to leave just as the airports began to shut down, which initiated Plan B. I caught one of the last trains to make it to NYC as the storm speared its way into Virginia, DC, and Pennsylvania, heading north. The next day, New York shut down under a blanket of white. Finn stayed tucked inside, and my daughter waited.

Sometimes our plans for the fast track to publishing fail, and we’re stuck with slower options. And sometimes we find the agent, hear the excitement, anticipate the delivery . . . and all we have is a waiting game.

Birthing seems to take as long as forever and be as far away as space.

The wait for Baby Finn expanded to a week. Then eight days. Nine. On the tenth, the pains strengthened, and we went to the hospital. When the command to push toward birth finally came, the effort seemed to avail little. Finn barely budged.

Sometimes we’ve progressed to the birthing room, yet our work seems stuck. Stuck in editing. Stuck in design. Stuck in a spiral that calls for patience and calm.

During my daughter’s first pregnancy, the doctor forced the labor and then the delivery, and the results weren’t pretty. She changed doctors for this next child, and the Haitian-born obstetrician filled us with confidence because of her calm and her skill. And although Finn took his time, he finally emerged, whole, happy, blessed, and his mother faced none of the complications from the rushed delivery of her daughter.

Rushing to publication is never a good idea. The process of birth takes time. Time for edits and rewrites to make our work the best it can be. Time to create a beautiful cover—which will be the initial point of contact with readers. Time for our work to mature until we’re no longer book-pregnant, but finally a book parent.

And then, of course, the focus shifts.

And we search for readers. Oh, please, let there be readers!

Normandie studied sculpture in Italy before receiving her BA, summa cum laude with special honors in English. Known for her women’s fiction—Becalmed (2013), Sailing out of Darkness (2013), and Heavy Weather(2015)—she ventured into the realm of romantic suspense with the release of Two from Isaac’s House. In early 2016, a novella, From Fire into Fire, will continue the Isaac House saga. Normandie and her husband spent a number of years on board their 50-foot ketch, Sea Venture, sailing in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. They now live in coastal North Carolina, where she takes care of her aging mother.

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Three Ways You Welcome Failure, O Writer

by Linore Rose Burkard

No one intentionally tries to fail, and yet, despite our best efforts, we may inadvertently put out a welcome mat to an ongoing sense of failure. How?

1. We fail to find rest in our calling as writers in Christ.

We try our darndest to be good at what we do, don't we? But no amount of striving, learning, working, trying, editing, will make us the writer we are called to be--unless we first put our hope in God and find our rest in Him. Frenetic activity, apart from a deep sense of our vocation being a shared journey with the Lord, will bring exhaustion and

Are you sabotaging your own success?

discouragement. Sure, it may also bring some degree of worldly "success"-- but at cost to our soul's life in Christ.

• If He has called us, He is faithful and will "do it"--bring us to a place of success.

That  "place of success" is different for each of us, but part of his divine plan. It may not look like what you're striving for, but it will be perfectly tailored for you in his will. Can you rest in that?

• Your "success" may look like failure to someone else. Can you say, as one hymn, "Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise/ Thou mine Inheritance, now and always?" *Unless you can, you are not resting in Him.
• Learn to define "success" as God defines it for you. 

2. We fail to do everything we know to do, diligently, even while asking God for success.

• Resting in our call does not preclude doing our part. Are you slacking in your diligence? Failing to apply yourself in some way? Remember Ecclesiastes 9:10: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might." Just don't do it ONLY with your own might, but in the strength you get from God. (Matt.6:33; Phil.4:13)
• The Christian life is a tightrope; a fine line separates whether we are working and striving in our own steam or resting on His. Discipline yourself to put your trust in God before each day's work.   

3. We fail to want Christ more than we want to succeed. 

• Seeking to excel at one's craft is fine and good, but not if we do it because we're obsessed with "success."
• Recognize that no amount of worldly success will bring lasting satisfaction. In that sense, it can be failure, even if it looks great to outsiders. 

When it comes down to it, the degree to which we "succeed" as writers has nothing to do with contracts, royalties, or even the esteem of others. It has to do with us on our knees before a holy God, finding our energy and source for inspiration in Him. 

Want to be a smashing success in 2016? Get on your knees. Every day. Let God define "success" for your life--and accept his definition. (Aye, there's the rub!)

You can do it; I can do it; with his help!

* lines from "Be Thou My Vision,"  by 6th century Irish poet, Dallan Forgaill

*This column was inspired by a 2006 interview with Kristy Dykes, by CBD (Christian Book Distributors)

Linore Rose Burkard (a.k.a. L.R.Burkard) wrote a trilogy of genuine regency romances for the Christian market before there were any regencies for the Christian market. Her books opened up the genre in the CBA. She writes YA Suspense/Apocalyptic fiction as L.R. Burkard, not only to keep expanding boundaries for her readers, but to explore deeper themes. Married with five children, she home-schools her youngest daughter, preferably with coffee in one hand and iPad in the other. 

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Do you believe?

I have failed many times. Still do. 

In fact, I may be in the middle of one of the biggest failures of my life. And what am I facing? A lack of belief that I can succeed. What I’m doing I believe (today anyway) is what God has called me to do. But it doesn’t appear to be working. 

I can’t help thinking about the scene from The Empire Strikes Back (1980) when Yoda is teaching Luke how to use the Force and suggests he use it to raise the X-wing out of the bog where it has crashed. Luke sighs and says he’ll, “give it a try.” 

To which Yoda says: “No. Try not. Do … or do not. There is no try.” 

 So Luke makes the attempt—and he fails, sinking the ship even further into the swamp. As he wanders off to sulk in his failure (you ever do that?), he accuses Yoda of asking the impossible. 

Then Yoda uses the Force himself to raise the ship. As Luke looks at the resurrected X-wing, he says to Yoda in amazement: “I don’t … I don’t believe it.” 

Yoda replies: “That is why you fail.” 

Why we fail

Is this ever you? Or is it just me? 

Why do we so often not believe in our ability to succeed, but subscribe strongly to the likelihood of our failure? Certainly it has something to do with the “tapes” that play in our minds, as author Lena Nelson Dooley says (see "Comparisons Equal Discouragement," ACFW Journal, Winter 2012). 

But where do those tapes come from? They come, Dooley suggests, from our past failures, from things we’ve said about ourselves, and from things other people have said about us. But where do those comments come from? 

Jesus tells us in The Gospel of John. In Chapter 8, he is debating with the Pharisees about Who He is and trying to get them to see the truth. But they refuse. Finally, he says to them:

Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! (John 8:43-45, NIV)

Because of our fallen nature, we are more prone to listen to the words of our enemy than the words of our Savior—Who will always speak truth. It has been so since the Garden of Eden.

Do you feel you’re failing at what God has called you to do? Who are you listening to? Who am I listening to? 

Who should we be listening to?

Michael Ehret loves to play with words and as editor of the ACFW Journal, he is enjoying his playground. He also plays with words as a freelance editor at WritingOnTheFineLine.com, where he often takes a writer Into The Edit, pulling back the veil on the editing process. He has edited several nonfiction books, played with words as a corporate communicator, and reported for The Indianapolis Star.

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Love, Hope, and Faith

Today's guest devotion is by Trish Perry, from: Delight Yourself in the Lord…Even on Bad Hair Days © 2011 Summerside Press

Love, Hope, and Faith

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 5:3

Do you remember the first time your heart was broken? I had to dig through the old memory to remember getting dumped the first time, but I found the little gem hiding in a far-off corner. I can’t drudge up the pain I felt back then, but I remember feeling it. Devastating. The truly odd thing is that the pain of that first heartbreak seemed more searing than the pain of having a marriage pulled out from under me after nearly two decades. Was I really that cold about my marriage?

Quite the opposite. I didn’t rejoice the end of my marriage. But after a life’s worth of romance and breakup, my devastation has been replaced by hope. Not necessarily hope for more romance, mind you. Simply hope. Because after suffering through multiple heartbreaks, I discovered I could survive them, I could persevere. And learning to persevere built my character. Part of my character today is the result of experiencing heartbreak and surviving it. And surviving loss. And surviving failure. And surviving…[fill in the blank]. God designed us to develop multi-faceted characters. Knowing He cares enough to improve my character gives me hope.

So it is with all suffering. Regardless of how Paul phrased it, he surely wasn’t saying “real” Christians dance for joy when they learn they have serious illnesses or they lose loved ones or they get laid off or any number of awful turns our lives could take. But the longer we live, the greater the opportunity to develop hindsight and wisdom. And hope.

So often we hear people say things like, “I would never have asked for this to happen to me, but I wouldn’t change a thing, because it made me who I am today.” That might sound trite, but the insinuation is that the person appreciates who she is today. For a Christian, that means she sees God’s hand in her life. She has hope for a God-ordained future.

That kind of hope won’t disappoint us. It eventually rises to the surface, despite any suffering we experience, if we persevere and allow our suffering to build our strength and character.

What does it take for us to believe that hope won’t disappoint us? To believe that hope will arrive, and to believe it so strongly that we’ll eventually rejoice in our sufferings? Well, it takes faith. When you think of it, that’s really the only gift we can give the Lord. It’s all He’s ever asked of us.

Today’s Prayer:  Lord Jesus, You know what I struggle with today. Please give me strength to persevere, to be strong in character, and to always hope in You. Amen.

Award-winning novelist Trish Perry has written inspirational romantic comedies for Harvest House Publishers and Summerside Press, including Love Finds You on Christmas Morning. She has served as a columnist and as a newsletter editor over the years, as well as a 1980s stockbroker and a board member of the Capital Christian Writers organization in Washington, D.C. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America and holds a degree in Psychology. Visit her Website at www.TrishPerry.com

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