Paul Whybrow
Full Member
Although I'm not averse to reading positive stories, I've definitely got the typical British stoicism running through my veins: don't complain, make the best of things and keep a stiff upper lip when motivating myself.
The problem with being long-suffering is that it turns into self-indulgent masochism. Keeping my nose to the grindstone might be virtuous, but with my sense of smell destroyed, I can longer appreciate how much my situation stinks! We all need immense amounts of patience to be writers but as George Jackson cautioned:
Patience has its limits. Take it too far and it's cowardice.
I'm becoming increasingly impatient with the time it takes to interest literary agents in representing me to secure a traditional publishing contract, so I'm planning a return to self-publishing. To do so effectively means entering the hoopla of blogging, tweeting and posting on social media, which I don't wanna do!
Life is too much "Look at me...me, me, me" these days, with people getting momentary amusement from often meaningless twaddle. In selling myself as an author and marketing my books as commercial products, I hope to pen online content that entices readers prepared to devote time to my stories. I'm unsure how to do so.
I've been discussing various aspects of commerce with my best friend, who lives on South Island of New Zealand. She runs a jewellery importation business, sourcing stock from Turkey and India, selling rings, bracelets and necklaces directly to customers at markets and through online ads. Trade is up and down, sometimes she does well, other times it's a lot of effort for little profit.
Like me, she's very determined/stubborn/tenacious, but, unlike me, she believes in a higher power. Not necessarily an all-powerful god, more tapping into a universal force that radiates benevolence when contacted. She does so through intention statements, writing down what it is she wants to achieve. She recently suggested that I do the same for my writing career.
I'm familiar with positive affirmations and have collected pithy sayings, quotes, proverbs and verse for twenty years, amassing several thousand of them, but I've never done anything so cosmically optimistic before as listing my wants and needs.
How To Write An Intention Statement And Set An Intention For The Day
Just about the only way I motivate myself is to say Do It! I adopted this catchphrase in 1972 after reading a book by counterculture social activist Jerry Rubin.
Do It: Scenarios of the Revolution.: Amazon.co.uk: Jerry. Rubin: 9780671206017: Books
A story won't exist unless I do it. It won't get published unless I do it. I'm pragmatic in this way, but maybe writing down what I intend would help to define my books and their future.
Do any of you use affirmations to comfort and motivate yourself?
Have you written an intention statement?
Did it help?
It worked for Octavia E. Butler:
Octavia E. Butler Wrote The Story Of Her Success Years Before It Happened
The problem with being long-suffering is that it turns into self-indulgent masochism. Keeping my nose to the grindstone might be virtuous, but with my sense of smell destroyed, I can longer appreciate how much my situation stinks! We all need immense amounts of patience to be writers but as George Jackson cautioned:
Patience has its limits. Take it too far and it's cowardice.
I'm becoming increasingly impatient with the time it takes to interest literary agents in representing me to secure a traditional publishing contract, so I'm planning a return to self-publishing. To do so effectively means entering the hoopla of blogging, tweeting and posting on social media, which I don't wanna do!
Life is too much "Look at me...me, me, me" these days, with people getting momentary amusement from often meaningless twaddle. In selling myself as an author and marketing my books as commercial products, I hope to pen online content that entices readers prepared to devote time to my stories. I'm unsure how to do so.
I've been discussing various aspects of commerce with my best friend, who lives on South Island of New Zealand. She runs a jewellery importation business, sourcing stock from Turkey and India, selling rings, bracelets and necklaces directly to customers at markets and through online ads. Trade is up and down, sometimes she does well, other times it's a lot of effort for little profit.
Like me, she's very determined/stubborn/tenacious, but, unlike me, she believes in a higher power. Not necessarily an all-powerful god, more tapping into a universal force that radiates benevolence when contacted. She does so through intention statements, writing down what it is she wants to achieve. She recently suggested that I do the same for my writing career.
I'm familiar with positive affirmations and have collected pithy sayings, quotes, proverbs and verse for twenty years, amassing several thousand of them, but I've never done anything so cosmically optimistic before as listing my wants and needs.
How To Write An Intention Statement And Set An Intention For The Day
Just about the only way I motivate myself is to say Do It! I adopted this catchphrase in 1972 after reading a book by counterculture social activist Jerry Rubin.
Do It: Scenarios of the Revolution.: Amazon.co.uk: Jerry. Rubin: 9780671206017: Books
A story won't exist unless I do it. It won't get published unless I do it. I'm pragmatic in this way, but maybe writing down what I intend would help to define my books and their future.
Do any of you use affirmations to comfort and motivate yourself?
Have you written an intention statement?
Did it help?
It worked for Octavia E. Butler:
Octavia E. Butler Wrote The Story Of Her Success Years Before It Happened
