Author and Digital Strategist
With so much injustice happening around us, it’s more important than ever to speak out. For some of us, that’s using our place of privilege to speak out against things we see that are not right—even if they don’t affect us one bit.
I’ve called my representatives many times over the past few months to use my voice to speak out. It’s our right, so don’t be silent when we see things happening that make us uncomfortable. Change can start with one voice.
Processing no’s and setbacks are part of a writer’s life.
I don’t know of any writer, no matter how successful, that hasn’t had to process no’s.
I don’t know of any writer, even NYT Bestsellers, who even after achieving success hasn’t had to process no’s.
The life of a creative means a life of accepting subjectivity and not allowing it to pierce your resolve.
I was talking to my husband about this very thing (though not about writing) and was sharing that it’s hard to not let no’s feel like mini-failures. That each time I miss the mark, it feels like I just failed terribly and in conclusion, am a failure.
But he said something tonight that struck a chord. He said, “Then you just fail forward.”
Failing forward… I like that.
Because isn’t that what failures do? They mold us and shape us. We learn from them what not to do and what to do better. Failures thicken our spine and deepen our resolve.
Each failure. Each no. Each closing of the door is an alignment.Â
“Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time but it is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I’ve met people who don’t want to try for fear of failing. […] It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.” – J.K. Rowling
Failure is inevitable, but as you feel yourself falling towards that failure, shift forward.
That way when you hit the ground, you do so in a roll where you can pop back up and continue sprinting toward your goal.
Never be afraid to share your voice.
I LOVED this encouragement from Pierce Brown which can be found in the acknowledgements of his book, Morning Star.
I hope it encourages you today to keep on pressing through because the world needs your skyscraper.
If you’re a writer, I’m assuming you have a goal.
Whether that goal be finishing your first draft… finishing your revision… getting agent representation… the ever elusive book deal… the NEXT book deal… getting starred reviews… hitting the “lists”… being translated…
The moment you achieve one goal in this writing journey, another hundred swim into view and the constant reaching for “the next” can become exhausting.
But there is something happening beneath the surface whether you realize it or not. You are becoming refined and the way you react to each success or failure is creating in you the strength and determination to make it through the next success or failure.Â
Goals are wonderful. I LOVE goals, but the journey of who you become while going after those goals is what’s the most important.Â
How do you react when you deal with a failure?
Do you break… or are you going to be the person that stands in the face of a storm and shouts back that you will not move?
How do you react when you encounter success?
Do you immediately assume this is the new normal and forget the path through the storm… or do you use your platform to connect and uplift those behind you on the journey?
I want to be the second version of each and I think that’s what we all want to be.
But it’s the journey we’re on RIGHT NOW that determines your reaction, not the moment of success or failure.
So pay it forward NOW. Refuse to give up NOW. Be a support NOW.
Let the journey toward your goal refine your character and strengthen your core.
Destiny Cole 