Worry and the Journey to Publication

By Lindsay Harrel

Last week I was cleaning out my home office—which had slowly become the junk room in our house. I’ve been putting it off for awhile now, but with the upcoming arrival of a new baby, it had to be done. When sorting through items I’d long forgotten about, I came upon a journal from five years ago.

As I read, I discovered entries from the very beginning of my writing journey. There were some entries where I was excited to finally be pursuing this dream, one I’d held in my heart since childhood. Other entries expounded upon all the knowledge I’d been gaining through craft books, conferences, and other sources.

But then there were the entries filled with something I’ve struggled with most of my life: worry. Pages and pages full of questions and doubts. Would I ever be able to make this a reality? Would I give up after a year of trying? Would I find out I really didn’t have what it takes to be a published author?

There was one journal entry dated about six months into my journey that really stood out to me. In it, I went back and forth on whether to submit my first novel to an editor who had requested it. I agonized over that decision, fearing that if it wasn’t ready (which it wasn’t!!), I’d ruin any future chances I had in the industry—but also worrying that if I didn’t take that chance, I’d always regret it.

You guys—if I’ve learned anything, it’s that one single action can’t destroy someone’s chances at publication forever (of course, I’m not talking about something that burns bridges or is egregious, rude, or ill-mannered). Either you believe God is in this or you don’t. He has the perfect timing, the perfect path for YOU.

I saw a meme going around the Internet this month that said, “If it doesn’t open, it’s not your door.” Over the last five years, I’ve stood at many doors and knocked incessantly, begging them to open—to no avail. Then I worried about why they didn’t open. Was I not worthy? Had God forgotten about me? Did I unknowingly upset someone important?

Now I look back and I shake my head. The worry did me absolutely no good. The doubt didn’t help me blossom into a better writer. It only weighed me down and choked the life and energy out of me. It wasn’t until I was able to “let go and let God” have control that I was at peace in my writing journey. I put my head down and kept writing. One book. Another. Another. And another.

And then, seemingly out of the blue (though it wasn’t out of the blue for God), I received my first contract in March of this year. My debut novel, One More Song to Sing, is set to release later this week, on December 1.

I was talking about this with a friend of mine recently. She grinned and said, “Remember all that worrying you did? Guess it wasn’t necessary after all.” She was totally right. Let me tell you, I didn’t add a single moment to my life by worrying (Matthew 6:27).

Learn from my mistakes. Don’t let worry take over your journey. Fight back. Replace those ugly lies Satan is feeding you with healthy doses of the Truth.

God has the right door for you. It may not look the way you thought it would. It may take a lot longer to reach it than you wanted. But every step along this journey is one that leads you closer to your goal.

Keep fighting—and keep writing.

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Worry and the Journey to Publication by Lindsay Harrel (Click to Tweet)

The doubt didn’t help, It only choked the life and energy out of me ~ Lindsay Harrel (Click to Tweet)

 Keep fighting—and keep writing. ~Lindsay Harrel (Click to Tweet)

Bio:

Lindsay Harrel is a lifelong book nerd who lives in Arizona with her young family, and two golden retrievers in serious need of training. Besides writing, singing, and hanging out with family and friends, Lindsay enjoys making a fool of herself at Zumba, curling up with anything by Jane Austen, and savoring sour candy one piece at a time. Her debut novel, One More Song to Sing, releases December 2016. Connect with her at www.LindsayHarrel.com.

Book Blurb:

More than two decades ago, Olivia Lovett left her old life behind in the red dirt of Oklahoma and forged a career in Nashville as a country music star. Now her voice is failing, forcing her to find a new dream just as the secrets of her past come knocking at the door. Long-time friend Andrew Grant agrees to partner in a new business venture—but would he stick around if he knew her whole story?

After the tragic loss of her father, twenty-one-year-old Ellie Evans headed to Nashville seeking more than just fame. For two years, she’s waitressed, strummed, and sung her way to what may finally be her big break when Olivia offers to sign her to the budding record label. More than anything, Ellie just wants to be seen: by her future fans, by Nick Perry—a fellow musician with a killer smile and kind eyes—and above all else, by the mother who abandoned her. If the spotlight never shines on her, will Ellie ever feel whole?

One More Song to Sing is a romantic drama about the power of forgiveness, second chances, and a God who never fails to see us.

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When you Can't Run, Crawl

by Kelly Klepfer

I’m no stranger to discouragement. Likely, you could say the same. How many opportunities are there to find a brick wall, a difficult situation or challenging person in our lives? Yeah, that many. Sigh.
I’m sharing about a trudge through the mud of discouragement I suffered while co-writing my book, Out of the Frying Pan. More importantly, what I learned in that season.

My co-author, Michelle Griep, is far more disciplined and prolific. As a matter of fact, this is her sixth or seventh book release and she’s just contracted for three more.

She’s very good. I mean, the woman can write. We met at an on-line Christian author critique group. She and I hit it off right away. We bantered, shared sarcasm and even began sharing lives. Soon our families got involved and bonded. We became sisters separated at birth and became aunties to each other’s kids.

Michelle plugged away at writing. I played with it. We both got little pieces published and had some bigger successes, too. But I hung on the fringes. Not that I didn’t want to write and be published, but I didn’t want to pursue publishing if I didn’t feel like there was something that I specifically needed to say. I did have an idea for a story. About elderly sisters-in-law who happen upon a murder scene. Michelle loved the idea and we decided to write it together. I was given the task of putting the skeleton together and then we’d each pick main character points of view to write and add the muscle, skin and personality.

Other than the fact that I would drag my feet, this worked well. She would pester me to write a few scenes, I would, she’d write a few. Then I’d suggest she write another book and we’d put it on hold. This novel has been a very long labor. Because Michelle was the stronger writer, I deferred to her. The woman loves to edit, too. At one point she sent me the manuscript so I could get up to speed and I noticed my scenes had been edited to sound very much like her voice. Now picture Pac-Man and that sound he makes when those little ghost things get him. That is the sound my confidence made.

The changes were in rewording some of my stiffly written prose. My heart was still in my scenes but I couldn’t see that. I sunk into a funk. Finally, we talked about it, and she agreed that she could just send me suggestions and I could fix the problems, but the arrows of insecurity and failure had sunk deep into my joy. I told her I needed a break from the story and went to a corner to lick my wounds. I’d love to give you deep spiritual truths and applications revealed by the Lord through my prayer and immersion in the Word in my time of need. But I have to admit that taking this to the Lord wasn’t a priority. My pity party was.

Delighted that Michelle had another project to work on I slowly began to process and deal with my insecurity. I continued to read, review and blog, working on my writing skills that way. But Michelle eventually asked me to pick up where we left off. The story was too good not to tell and we needed to finish it. I agreed and persevered. What I noticed was that the tools, the conference knowledge, the how-to book sense, I’d packed in the back of my brain somehow had come to the surface through the reading and processing I’d been doing which was using those neural pathways.

Since I had shared my heart with Michelle, and my commitment to work on the book was short term and a close family member was hospitalized leaving me hours sitting in a quiet hospital setting I set out to finish as soon as I could. I just wrote scenes on my phone and sent them to her telling her to let me know what I needed to fix.

I will never forget the comment I received from her after: “Did you seriously just crank that scene out in twenty minutes? Because if you did, I hate you. It would take me hours to get a scene that ready.” Another critique partner read it and said I had grown leaps and bounds as a writer.

I don’t tell you this because I think I’ve arrived and am a good author. Far from that. But I share because of what I learned:

1.    Sometimes we have to process hard things. And in the processing we mature. However, if we ignore what we are supposed to work through we get stinky.

2.    A real friend is willing to tick you off, even hurt you to help you deal with something that’s holding you back.

3.    What you’ve learned and poured into your mind isn’t wasted. God has created an amazing brain for each of us and it doesn’t sleep. If something is important to you and you are willing to do the addition and subtraction you will eventually wake up and realize you understand more complex things.

4.    God’s faithfulness to me isn’t dependant on my attitude or choices. He lets me pout in the corner until I come to my senses. And teaches and blesses me anyway.

And on the chance that you are a writer or want to be, take heart. If you plug away and follow the wisdom of those who have gone before and you read good books, books like you’d like to write, you might be amazed at what happens when it clicks.

-------
I initially wrote this post for Elaine Stock for the blog tour for Out of the Frying Pan. Michelle, my co-author suggested that I share it here, too. Because writing is 20% soaring and 80% agony, insecurity and angst and anyone in the 80% needs all the encouragement they can get.

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When you Can't Run, Crawl by Kelly Klepfer (Click to Tweet)

What you’ve learned and poured into your mind isn’t wasted.~Kelly Klepfer (Click to Tweet)

Kelly Klepfer had ambitions to graduate from the school of life quite awhile ago, but alas . . . she still attends and is tested regularly. Her co-authored cozy/quirky mystery, Out of the Frying Pan, is the culmination of several of the failed/passed tests. Kelly, though she lives with her husband, two Beagles and two hedgehogs in Iowa, can be found at Novel Rocket, Novel Reviews, Scrambled Dregs, Modern Day Mishaps, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter with flashes of brilliance (usually quotes), randomocities, and learned life lessons. Zula and Fern Hopkins and their shenanigans can be found at Zu-fer where you always get more than you bargained for. 

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