30 things I've learnt from 5 years being published: no 17 – it's important to take stock from time to time
September 6 2023 marks 5 years since my first novel was released 😲
I’ve now published 6, and have 2 more under contract.
To celebrate, I’m sharing a new post about what I’ve learnt from being published EVERY DAY throughout the month. This post is part of that series!
Click here for the rest →
I believe that the thing that makes authors able to author is the thing that also means we are never satisfied. In order to finish a book, you need so much willpower, focus and determination and you basically have to be really, really hard on yourself.
And so it makes sense that when you’re finished and you’ve snagged an agent and you’ve got a publishing deal you don’t allow yourself to sit back and feel euphoric, like I imagine people do when they reach the top of a mountain.
Instead, you shift everything around in your mind so that you now want More. You want to be a bestseller, you want to be published all over the world, you want a film deal… etc etc.
All the euphoria you were hoping to feel when you achieved your dream might elude you, as they did me. Instead, I immediately started focusing on the next goal, the next thing I wanted to achieve.
And in a way, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s good to keep striving, to keep improving and aiming higher.
A few weeks ago I was sitting in a cafe with a fellow author, and we were having a moan about our careers (as authors so love to do) and all the things that haven’t gone right, and all the things that were frustrating us.
And then my friend said, ‘the irony, you know, is that people probably look at us and think we’re successful.’
It was such a shock to hear her say that. But it really struck a chord within me: how easy it is to get caught up in the negativity and obsessing over the things that haven’t gone right, and ignore the things that have.
I know it’s a bit preachy, but in today’s post I just wanted to urge you to take some time to sit back and appreciate what you’ve achieved.
I find this really difficult myself, but it’s so important to take stock of what we’ve managed to do every now and then.
Here are some of the ways I do this, to remind myself of how far I’ve come:
I visit my books on Amazon and only read the 5 star reviews
I periodically pick up my actual books and look through them, reading random passages to myself - often I can’t even remember writing them, which is a surreal but lovely feeling
I write down in my gratitude journal all the things that I’ve accomplished
I look back at my annual ‘goals list’ that I write every New Year’s Eve to remind myself, again, of everything I’ve managed to achieve
I read over any nice emails I’ve had from readers (I save these in a special folder in my email account)
I go on a long walk, usually along the Thames, and I just think about everything I’ve done, and I try to imagine what my 18-year-old self would think, and how impressed she would be
I hope this post doesn’t sound too smug. But I think it’s so important.
There’s SO much failure involved in a writing career that we often feel overwhelmed by it, and it overshadows any success.
I would really urge you to take some time to look back at what you’ve done, and how far you’ve come on your writing journey. The odds of even finishing writing a book are so slim that it’s a huge achievement in itself.
Just a few moments to pause and reflect - drowning out all the external noise that comes with a writing career - can make all the difference to your mindset.
And while you’re doing it, give yourself a big pat on the back from me ❤️
