1) Remember, a life that includes creating art is a privilege

Expressing ideas with the written word is a noble pursuit. If you carry that mindset on this journey, all else will fall into perspective. Whenever doubt or fear creeps into the process, breathe deeply and come back to a place of gratitude. Really, what you are offering is a gift. I know this sounds very crunchy, but the vulnerability that comes with publication is an opportunity to attract  and connect with all sorts of good things. 

Despite your attention being focused on your now published work, keep writing. It always feels good to have work-in-process to turn to, and even if you write a modest amount every day, your word count will still accumulate. Writing something fresh every day keeps a positive spirit alive. Go to bed each night secure in the knowledge that, if nothing else, you are making forward progress and that you are one of the creators.

2) Make the Ask

Now that you’ve accepted the fact what you are creating is your offering, your gift….  don’t be shy. The world is not going to know about the insight you’ve poured onto the page unless you share it, and share it proudly. Ask for feedback and ask for help. When your work is accepted for publication there will be much more asking in store: for blurbs, for pre-orders, for reviews. The asking never stops. 

My publisher, Brooke Warner of She Writes Press, always says the creative world operates on a currency of generosity. So ask with humility and be the type of artist who looks forward to being generous when it is her turn. When EDEN was published, I worried a lot about asking. But once I swallowed my fear and did it, a deep well of support was there for me. I have to say, stepping into it was life-changing and one of the greatest byproducts of this writing endeavor. Sometimes I even think it is the reason I was meant to take this on.

3) Be a Good Literary Citizen

That’s right, the writing community is waiting to embrace you, but first you must become a good literary citizen. Go to readings and review books. Cultivate relationships with fellow authors and attend their events. Support local bookstores, listen to and share podcasts, and attend book festivals. 

Again, humility is important. When people sense sincerity, they are more apt to help.  This can mean blurbing your book or inviting you to participate in a festival. This can mean inviting you to book clubs and library readings. I tried to say yes to everything humanly possible. For the introvert writer in me, this was a newfound skill, and again it was life changing because there is a lot that can be done from home, behind the safety of your lap-top screen….  but there really isn’t anything that equals the connections you will make with real life human beings. So, do as much as possible in person, and when that is not an option use social media….

4) Embrace Social Media

When I published my debut , I didn’t quite understand the role social media and blogging would play in my writing career. Twitter? What are you talking about? Now I stay in touch with readers through my blog and I find myself buoyed by robust communities on Instagram and Facebook. As an indie author, the digital world has opened up a world of readers to me, and specifically a niche of readers who like the type of books I write. So figure out how this works and if you become overwhelmed or if this gets in the way of your writing practice, ask for help! 

5) Celebrate every small victory along the way

Know there will be ups and downs, and not everyone will like your work. But just one door-opening opportunity, one great publicity hit, one influencer’s endorsement can make all the difference.   And if you dare, celebrate the defeats too because it all adds up to experience and the learning curve is steep. You aren’t really a writer unless you’ve experienced rejection and bad reviews! Just embrace the fact that you are climbing. There is something blissful about not knowing much during that first go round at getting published, but subsequent times be grateful for your expanded vantage point. You’ve earned an amazing view and can see what truly matters: how far you’ve come. 

Jeanne Blasberg is the author of Eden: A Novel, as well as the new release The Nine: A Novel. She is the winner of the Beverly Hills Book Awards for Women’s Fiction and finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best New Voice in Fiction and Sarton Women’s Book Award for Historical Fiction. After graduating from Smith College, she embarked on a career in finance. Though she worked primarily with numbers, she was always interested in writing. After holding jobs on Wall Street, at Macy’s, and writing case studies at Harvard Business School, she turned her attention to writing memoir and fiction. Blasberg founded the Westerly Memoir Project. She sits on the board of the Boston Book Festival and Grub Street, one of the country’s preeminent creative writing centers, where she enjoys being part of a community of enthusiastic learners. Learn more at https://jeanneblasberg.com.   

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The best medicine I’ve found is to keep doing what I like best—writing. To paraphrase the character of Dori in Finding Nemo, “Just keep writing, Just keep writing. Just keep writing, writing, writing.” There’s no distraction like the daunting task of writing another book. But . . .

Can I Do It Again?

Is there another story inside my head that someone, anyone, would want to read? Or did I pour so much of my heart and soul into the first one that I’ve dried up?

Fearful thoughts are forceful creatures. They say, “Your first book was luck. You’re not really a writer. You barely knew what you were doing the first time.”  And even if there is another story in me, those doubts threaten to drown it.

Doubt is The Worst Enemy of Any Artistic Endeavor.

And I’m faced with a legitimate question, how in the hell did I do it the first time?

Seriously, I know I put in hours and hours over weeks and months, but what was I actually doing? The time has blurred together so badly I’m left wondering if I was doing no more than playing with magnetic poetry. Maybe I was.

The first book took me thirteen months, from conception to submission. I took four months scattered within that year to let it percolate while I entertained myself with other projects.

My new project is one of those drafts I pounded out “for fun” during those breaks. The concept is polar opposite from my first one, as light as the other was dark, as urbane as the other was gritty. So I’m faced with an even harder truth, even if I could remember how I did the first one, this project is so different, the same strategy could never work for this one.

I have to Re-invent My Process All Over Again

And the doubt monsters pound on my door and creep around the frame like ghosts infiltrating my psyche. They block my way forward and threaten me with thoughts like, “You’ll never be able to do this. No one wants to read what you write.”

Disgusted, I stare them down until they retreat into silence.

It’s so easy that it surprises me, and I realize the number one thing I learned from my first project was how to circumnavigate my doubt monsters.

They used to derail me for days into the land of “I can’t do this.” It took up large blocks of time during my first project, far more than playing with magnetic poetry. I’ve learned to recognize the doubt monsters, the fearful road blocks, and I can see them coming now earlier and earlier, before they invade and debilitate my imagination. I’ve learned to evade them with detours.

I’ve Discovered My Inner Navigator.

My visceral need to write takes the wheel and  warps “I can’t do this” into “I want to do this.” The “I want” frees my boundless font of ideas, and I know there’s more than enough for another book in me.

There’s enough for a lifetime of books.

The raw ideas are so numerous, they’re unwieldy. They require a veritable hodgepodge of trial and error. Piecing them into something that looks like a plot, or has the potential to be one, a scene or a sentence, is a challenge littered with new doubts. How do I transform these ideas into something comprehensible to another person?

There’s another doubt monster. Not sure how I’ll navigate that one yet.

Then I think just how much better I’ll be at detouring my road blocks by the time I’m on my third novel.

And maybe in the process I’ll learn to check my email a little less often.

Robin Lovett, also known as S.A. Lovett, writes contemporary romance, and her debut novel, Racing To You, will be released July of 2016. She is represented by Rachel Brooks of the L. Perkins Agency and has a forthcoming series releasing with SMP Swerve in the summer of 2017.

She writes romance to avoid the more unsavory things in life, like day jobs and housework. To feed her coffee and chocolate addictions, she loves overdosing on mochas. When not writing with her cat, you can find her somewhere in the outdoors with a laptop in her bag. Feel free to chat with her on Twitter.

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