Like a Teeter Totter Ride—Carolyn R. Wilker

Success and Rejection are opposites on a scale. I send off a submission to a publisher and wait. I’ve been told not to sit and just wait but to keep writing. Life moves along and there’s plenty to do. I write other stories, poems and speeches, take care of grandchildren, my husband, and my home. I edit for others, and behind that an excited, expectant part of me waits for an answer.

When I was a child, my father built a teeter totter for us (what some call a see-saw). Two long boards balanced on a metal A-frame that Dad had welded together then attached a metal plate where the boards were centred. We had two boards on that frame, each with a seat and T-handle at each end so that when there were more than two of us playing, or we had friends over to visit, there was room for more. We enjoyed endless hours of fun in our own rural playground of swing, sandbox and teeter totter. We went up and down, up and down, sometimes landing a bit too hard or getting dumped off, if the person at the other end were bigger or more energetic than the other. 

Successes and rejections are a bit like riding on a teeter totter. The ride up is pleasant. The wind blows through my hair; I see the clouds and sky in a different light, and there’s a feeling of euphoria when I’d like to stay in that place. The euphoria could be receiving a note about the acceptance of a manuscript, the willingness of another to publish my work. The other seeing something good in what I hoped was a polished piece. It’s a bit like being in the clouds, feeling as though the day is suddenly much brighter. Writers report that this can happen at any time in their writing career, and it’s always welcome. 

But it doesn’t remain that way. Eventually we go down. There’s the descent of this end, sometimes with a thunk, hitting the ground. That’s the no from a publisher, delivered however kindly, or just a plain unvarnished “No, it doesn’t match our list.” Or no response at all. 

I’ve had a bit of both lately. I received a ‘yes’ to a poem submitted to Tower Poetry for consideration, accepted for the summer issue, then a ‘no’ from a reputable writer’s organization to my application for membership, based on my book submission. An up followed by a thunk. One was a bigger deal than the other, for I had hopes pinned on that application. It caused me to sit back and feel great disappointment. Alright, it was the cause of some tears too. I’m still processing the why of it. The door is not shut forever, just for now. 

However, we’ve been told not to let others dictate our success.  We might indeed ask the question: Success in whose eyes? And here is where the kind comments of others on our work come in. It’s a good thing that I have not waited to sell the book until I heard, because it’s been a very long wait. Though it was jarring and an unwelcome response with little explanation, I’ve already sold out most of my first order of books, so someone likes it. Many ‘someones’ have written, saying how much they appreciated it. 

As Thomas Edison might have said, a failure is not the end. It just means that one way of doing something will not work for this project. And so I go back to my planning, engaging the creative part of my brain for marketing as I used for the initial writing. The teeter totter needs to go back on the upward thrust, letting the wind blow our hair again, seeing the sky in a new way, joining the euphoria we knew before. May it be that way for you too. As Wayson Choy once said to me, “Never Surrender.”

 

Carolyn Wilker is an editor, author, writing instructor and storyteller from southwestern Ontario

www.carolynwilker.ca

Success!

I’m a firm believer in having goals in life and in my writing career. I don’t want to wander through life without ever thinking about the purpose of it, without attempting to live an impactful life. My husband and I have often made a five-year plan for our family and job situation. (Yes, multiple five-year plans can happen when you’ve been married over 35 years!) Have we always met them? No… but we’ve gotten a lot closer to the bulls-eye than if we’d never tried to discern where the center of the target should be.

I had been writing for twelve years with three traditionally published books behind me when I prayerfully made the decision to go indie in mid-2014. The whole concept was daunting. I researched, watched others, prepared manuscripts, and prayed.

One of the keys I picked up was the necessity of a business plan for authors to be reviewed regularly. This made total sense, so I downloaded a template and began to fill it in. Some of it was easy. What were the products for sale? Contemporary romance novels by Valerie Comer.

But when I got to the section on financial planning, I was at a complete loss. My first traditionally published book was still selling, albeit slowly, but my other two had been rights-returned. How could I guess how many copies I might sell on my own when they’d done so poorly for the publisher?

I had to put something in the blank. What were my goals? I knew I would release three books almost simultaneously (remember I’d gotten rights back!) and two more in the remainder of the year. So my first goal was that, from the middle of July to the end of December, I’d have averaged one e-book sale per day.

Thank the Lord sales soon blew that conservative goal out of the water. And then I made a new goal: match what I’d made at my previous 30-hour-a-week minimum wage job. God blew me past that one before the end of the first year as well.

The point isn’t to brag. The point is that I had a goal, and I knew when I’d succeeded. I was ecstatic to average sales of more than a book a day for several months. It was success. If my averages were at that level in 2016, I would be crushed. I no longer think of that level as success.

The thing with goals is that you decide where to set them. You are in control of what success looks like. Then you can choose to raise the bar and shoot for a more difficult goal, to mix a few metaphors.

“They” say to set goals that are achievable, but a stretch. If my goal was still to sell one e-book a day, I’d be settling. There’d be no stretch, no drive, no motivation.

What if my very first goal — my only goal — would have been to reach the USA Today bestseller list? This is a big goal, and the number of authors that have launched directly to a major list is infinitesimally small. I would have spent two years feeling a failure.

God put that goal on my heart last winter, and I achieved it, along with eleven other authors in a box set built specifically with that goal in mind. The time was right.

I’m human. I tend to rely on my own ‘wisdom,’ set my own targets, and work in my own strength to achieve them. But then God gives me a nudge and reminds me what His goals are. While He’s indulged me some of these personal dreams, I am successful when I’m aligned to His plan, not when He’s applied the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval onto my own plan.

What is biblical success? Living for God. With God. Immersed in His will, each and every day. Using the talents and time He’s given me with His ultimate purposes in mind: to make me more like Him, and to minister to others.

 Fred Smith put it this way in Christianity Today: “The person doing the most with what he's got is truly successful. Not the one who becomes the richest or most famous, but the one who has the closest ratio of talents received to talents used.”

How about you? How do you measure success? How often do you revisit your goals?

Valerie Comer's life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local food movement as well as their church. She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily ever afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.

Valerie is a USA Today bestselling author and a two-time Word Award winner. She has been called “a stellar storyteller” as she injects experience laced with humor into her green clean romances. Visit her at ValerieComer.com.

"Take Your Time" - by Heidi McLaughlin

I am fixated on the British Open Golf Tournament taking place in Scotland at the Royal Troon Championship course.  It’s the 3rday of the tournament and Phil Mickelson, my favourite player, is in the lead. I focus on his drives, short pitches, brilliant putts and the interaction between him and his caddy. “Jim Bones” Mackay has been Phil’s caddy since 1992 and they have established a trusting relationship.  

This part fascinates me.  On every tee box both Phil and “Jim Bones” go through the routine of Phil’s next shot. They establish wind velocity, precise yardage, angles and hazards. Conversation takes place back and forth; they pick the right club, Phil steps up to the tee and then I hear Jim Bones' last words, “Take your time.”  With that simple, yet powerful send off for success, it feels like everyone can breathe again.

We need to hear “take your time” more often. We live in perilous times where we take pride in how much we can pack into one day.  Taking our sweet time about anything is simply not an option. It might even be considered laziness.

Little children teach us to savour the moments. They love to take their time playing with Lego, sitting and listening to stories. We are the ones who teach them to hurry. I can still hear myself, “Get your coat on we’re running late.” “ Quit fooling around, you need to eat your lunch so we can get out of here.” I wonder if subconsciously we learned that it’s bad or wasteful to take our time.

Our relentless pursuits to find fulfillment and success cause us to become weary, overwhelmed and sometimes cynical. I don’t think we were designed to hurry our way through life. Jesus modeled simplicity. “Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (Matthew 11:28-29 MSG)

I confess I am also a card-carrying member of the rat race of blogging, tweeting, posting articles, Facebook memes, Instagram, Pinterest and on and on. But with all that we've invested in becoming writers and speakers I would like to suggest that we pause and “take the time” to learn from Jesus and enjoy our journey. We are to throw off all those things that are “ill fitting” and focus on the things that will bring us joy on our pathway to success. So I have to ask myself, “What do I need to take the time to throw off so that I can live freely and lightly?”

Not many of us have a “Jim Bones” to help us become successful and remind us to “take your time.”  But we have Jesus who says we are to watch and learn from Him how to live freely and lightly.  Jesus never hurried. He took time to interact with people and model The Father’s love. He focused on His purpose. He changed the world. What can you and I learn from Jesus that will help us to stop hurrying,  “take the time” and enjoy our privileged season as writers and speakers?

Heidi McLaughlin lives in the beautiful vineyards of the Okanagan Valley in Kelowna, British Columbia. She is married to Pastor Jack and they have a wonderful, eclectic blended family of 5 children and 9 grandchildren. When Heidi is not working, she loves to curl up with a great book, or golf and laugh with her husband and special friends. You can reach her at: www.heartconnection.ca

Heidi's latest book RESTLESS FOR MORE: Fulfillment in Unexpected Places was released July 14th, 2016 and can be purchased on her website or amazon.com

Sweet Success by Glynis M. Belec

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

   Success. Ah, yes. As writers we all want to be considered successful by the masses. I’m thinking that if I did a survey and asked fifty people to give me a definition of success, there would be quite a few differences, though.

     Is success not defined by conformers of this world, as being measured by the amount of money in a bank account; the number of cars in the driveway; the total vacations in a year, or, in the case of writers, the quantity of books sold? Sometimes I have to be careful that I don't adopt that mindset, too, for it is drilled into me daily via the lure of advertising. 

     Certainly, as writers, though, we want to sell books. That’s one of the reasons most of us put finger to keyboard. And there is no glossing it over – the bills beg to be paid. But as believers, I’m thinking our definition of success needs to take a different form. Surely we write because God has given each of us a unique voice and a distinctive message to share and to glorify Him.

     Of course we would like to have 1000 readers buy our book on Amazon in one week, but what if one person, alone, bought our book and then said, “Thank you. I needed to read that. Your message was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you. You've changed my life.”

     Wouldn't that be a good and Godly measure of success? I think if we keep in mind that we write for an Audience of One, then our words will touch someone’s heart in an amazing way. And then when that happens, there can be a ripple down effect and lives really can be changed.

     I just finished listening to about 12 different speakers talking about how to sell hundreds of books on Amazon. How to make a six figure income as a writer. How to market and sell, sell, sell so that you can have great victory and climb the ladder of success  (especially if I enrolled in the courses offered later!) I will admit that I gleaned a lot of interesting information and tips from many of the speakers; some encouragement and a few things I might try to implement. But there seemed a void. A bit of a cold focus and I’ve decided that that coldness was a lack of Spirit writing.

     I am certainly not saying I know it all, because I surely do not! Romans 12:2 doesn't tell me that I will be transformed by the removal of my mind! It states that I shouldn't pick the world so that my mind can be renewed by God's golden Word, instead. It’s good to pay attention to things that increase my knowledge but I have to be careful that I don’t chuck aside God’s will in the process.

     Success is obedience to God and is defined (in His eyes) by the fulfilment of His purpose for us. That may involve 5,000 books sold; it may comprise of merely 50. The defining moment is that satisfaction that comes once the God-given words are released on paper and are prayerfully placed before the throne of the King.  Maybe the yield will not be riches or fame, but if I listen and obey and seek to fulfil God’s will with my words, then success will be clear. 

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Glynis lives, loves, laughs and does an awful lot of reading, writing, publishing and praying in her home office. Her latest children's book - Hopeful Homer offers hope and encouragement to anyone who might find herself in 'the pit'. 

Check out Glynis's bookstore here