Drop What You're Doing & #WatchThis from @IamSteveHarvey #LiveYourJump
A few days ago, I saw this posted on someone's Facebook wall. Take a minute and watch the video it will be well worth it.
For me personally, I can't tell you how many times a day I struggle with wanting to throw in the towel, declare myself a failure and give up. And every time I think it's time to peace out from the writing scene the Universe decides to send me a sign --whether it's someone buying my book, or a friend inquiring in to my recet manuscript, or something that reminds me of one of my characters...
(Seriously you think I'm making this tish up, but I was in Starbucks last year while unemployed and writing Secrets of the Heart and there was a couple meeting with their realtor. The guy's name? Tony Stark. He even joked about how many Iron Man jokes he had to field a day.)
Why do I tell you about this story? Because in the first of my books- Dirty Little Secret, Bert and Hillary have a discussion about Tony Stark. It's kind of a pivitol moment in that book.
For me it was serendipitous to me that this person, bearing that name, was served to me at a time where I was out of work, struggling to make ends meet, wondering if it was even worth it to put out another novel and spend all the money I didn't have on book editors and graphic designers and formatters etc to make sure I was putting the best shine on my work possible. At that moment I had been considering throwing in the towel entirely and Tony Stark was presented to me.
And now, a year later- almost exactly to the day, I find myself in the same situation again. Wondering what to do, if I should continue, whether or not it's worth it to publish the novel I'm working on now when again I have no income coming in... and then I see Steve Harvey's video on living in your jump.
Writing for me? That's my jump. It's my God-given talent, I just know it. In my regular 9-5 it's a portion of how I make my living, writing compelling copy and utilizing it to market. The rest of the time, it's to write novel. It's when I feel happiest, and most fulfilled. And I can only assume that right now... all of this toiling, all of this worry and anxiety, questioning whether or not its the right thing, if its worth it, if it's even worth the risks that I take to do it.... I can only hope that this is the fall before the parachute opens.
It's what I'm choosing to believe anyway. I'm living my jump. Whether or not I ever sell more than a handful of copies of my books is pretty irrevelant I think. Putting words on paper, creating worlds with characters and watching them and their stories develop... I love doing it.
I love the fall... when you find that perfect moment when the story begins to click and you can't get it down on paper fast enough because it's moving so quickly in your head... when you fingers tingle with the desire to move faster if only to experience where the story will take us. It's the best part of writing.
Im in my jump... and whether or not that parachute is simply personal happiness and satisfaction or thousands of copies sold, the fact that I jumped at all is what I choose to celebrate.
