Once You Get Published, Your Life Will Be Complete

by James L. Rubart

Do you believe the headline of this post? 

I did.

Getting published was my dream for so long, I figured when/if it ever happened the birds would burst into song, my lawn would instantly be free of dandelions and I'd grow a new head of hair. 

I know the vast majority of my traditionally published friends thought the same. (Not necessarily the hair part, but ... uh ... you know what I mean.)

As I started down the publishing path, I was told getting published wouldn't be the pinnacle I believed it would be; I nodded my head in agreement, but down deep I still thought it would validate me. Nope.

Getting Published Doesn't Make Things Easier, It Makes Things Harder

I was at a friend's house a few years back who is a multiple New York Times best selling author and I asked him if after writing 30+ books if it got easier. He told me each novel gets exponentially harder. 

I'm a relative newbie, only eight novels in at this point, but I agree. Each time I wonder if I can do it again. I wonder if I've left it all (my creativity, my ideas, mildly interesting dialogue, my twists and turns) in the last novel. I worry the well has gone dry. 

What's Your Point, James?

I have three:

• Decide if you're a writer for the sake of writing once and for all. All of us know the axiom, "Don't write unless you can't not write" and it's worth revisiting. If you were told everything you ever write from here on out will never be seen by anyone, would you keep writing? 

• Getting published won't validate you. Embrace this truth. Neither will awards, fame, friends, your spouse, your income, your home ... those things might placate the ache inside for a while, but the only true validation comes from Jesus.

• Wherever you are in the journey, enjoy the moment. There is only now. The past is gone. The future is only an idea. Stay here. Hold tight what God has for you in this slice of time. Whatever will happen in the days, weeks, years to come, your Amazing Father has been there already, and has prepared that moment in a way that will resonate for eternity.

James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man's body. He thinks he's still young enough to water ski like a madman and dirt bike with his two grown sons, and loves to send readers on journeys they'll remember months after they finish one of his stories. He's the best-selling, Christy, INSPY, and RT Book Reviews award winning author of seven novels as well as a professional speaker. During the day he runs his marketing company which helps businesses, authors, and publishers make more coin of the realm. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in eastern Washington. More at www.jameslrubart.com

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Publishing doesn't validate your life

This is an article I wrote two years ago, based on something a literary agent once said:

Publishing doesn't validate your life.

How true.

I have to admit before I was published, I thought that if I reached that nirvana called "published author," I'd have sweet validation. Every day would be smiles and dancing. You know what? I was wrong. Being published is terrific, mind you, but it doesn't bring happiness or validation. Instead, it adds more stress to your life.

Gone are the days when I could write for the sheer joy of it. Always looming is a deadline. And though I pinch myself because I "get" to write, and I feel like I'm doing what I was created to do, I sometimes get lost in the cycle of publicity, sales and marketing. And I'm tired of worrying about provision.
Maybe I'm the only one (and I'm embarrassed to admit this publicly), but I check my Amazon ratings for the three (Note: now ten, and I don't do this anymore, thankfully) books I have in print. I know, know, know that these ratings mean very little. I know that a high rank (which is bad) just means that during that hour the book didn't sell. I know that if a band of readers (like a book club) went together and bought ten of my books in one hour, my rating would shoot lower (which is good).  

But it doesn't mean anything.

Why do I pester myself with such nonsense? After all, publishing doesn't validate my life, right?
It's like this weird endless cycle of neediness. It evolves in incremental steps of if onlys:

• If only I could be published in a magazine, even if I'm not paid.
• If only I could be paid to be published in a magazine.
• If only I could go to a writer's conference and have an agent show an interest in my proposal.
• If only I could sign with an agent.
• If only that agent could sell my work.
• If only I could have more than one contract.
• If only I could earn out the advance for the book I wrote.
• If only I could sell enough books so a publisher would want another book from me.
• If only a publisher would treat a mid-list author like me kindly.
• If only I could make a living at writing.
  
  That's a lot of if onlys!

I remember reading about blocked goals once and it's stuck with me. A blocked goal is a goal that is dependent on other's actions or happenstance. All these if onlys fit, albeit somewhat awkwardly, as blocked goals. I don't have any control over whether I'll get a contract offered. I can't make people buy my books. I can't make my book sell enough to earn back an advance. I can't control the fickleness of this industry.

What I can do is create goals that can't be blocked. Goals like:

• I will listen to the heartbeat of God and write what He inspires me to write.
• I will not let writing, by God's strength, overshadow the needs of my family.
• I will write the best books I can write, always seeking to improve, abounding in humility and teachability.
• I will be patient when sales wane and trust God's sovereignty.
• I will promote my books with this motivation: to see the kingdom of God advanced.
• I will laugh at the unpredictability of this industry and strive to be lighthearted.
• I will serve others and not let elusive and fleeting fame (if that happens) inflate my head.
• I will attend conferences, read writing books, and welcome critique.
• I will serve my readers by praying for them and answering emails when God provides time.
• I will write for the sheer joy of it, not despising unpublished words.

So, yeah, publishing does not validate me. Sure it feels great to hold my book in my hands. It's lovely when I get a good review. But it's the hand of God on my life that brings me ultimate validation. That God stooped to earth and chose me, a frail, needy girl, stops my heart every time. And by His grace, I will carry on.

Mary DeMuth mentors writers toward publication at The Writing Spa, which now has a brand spanking new Facebook page. Head over to this post today or tomorrow for a chance to win the 2011 Sally Stuart Christian Writers' Market Guide, my fiction proposal tutorial, and a 5 page substantive critique from me (a $200 value!).

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