Satisfaction & Contentment
SNOW at our house!
We loved the unexpected 6 feet of snow in Nashville last week!
For me, this past week/weekend has been filled with snow and podcasts, and of course…writing. I’ve also been mulling over the contents of my last couple of newsletters. It’s prompting me to ask myself questions. I love writing, and I want to be published.
This is my goal: to get an agent and publish one of my books. Ideally, this would become a side-career. That’s what I want. But here’s the thing: I don’t love social media or marketing myself, and you can’t be a successful (my personal definition of successful) writer without those two things. To write a book takes a lot of work, and it’s an accomplishment, but it’s only the beginning. If no one reads that book, well…
When I was in healthcare, I loved taking care of patients; I did not love the paperwork and charting that went along with it. There’s so much stuff that tags along with our goals, isn’t there? And that extra stuff can make you question those goals.
I spoke with a published author last weekend who joined my smaller writing group. She’s had 4 books traditionally published, which was a dream come true for her. But she admitted that the whole process has been incredibly hard work, and she shared her frustration with the publishing industry. In the new year, she’s trying to find her way back to that initial enjoyment of writing because she’s not enjoying herself as much these days.
Work is work, but you have to give to it, and it takes from you, like any relationship. And with all relationships you have to decide what you’re willing to give, what you’re willing to let go of, and what you’re going to put in (effort). Those three things have slight differences, but the bottom line is this: is what you get out of something worth what you’re putting in?
I think we have to ask ourselves these questions with everything: the job, the house, our relationships with friends and family. Sometimes we’re in positions where we have to take what we can get to survive, but sometimes we need to step back and evaluate, trim, re-arrange, re-calibrate.
I’m not going to stop writing, but I am going to spend some time evaluating the ugly part of a writing career and explore tackling the business side in a way that doesn’t suck the life and enthusiasm out of me.
Are you happy? Satisfied? Fulfilled? If the answer is no, why? Spend some time figuring out why. Then spend more time figuring out what you have to do to make the answer yes. Not everyone’s question is the same. So first make sure you’re asking your own questions and addressing your own goals, not someone else’s goals or goals someone else has for you. (or goals society has for you.) Your goals.
If you’re in that satisfied spot, look around you and appreciate it. Smile and nod. That’s huge!
Book Review/Recommendation:
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
This book is full of heart. Inspired by real events from the author’s life, it is not only inspiring, but eye-opening. Throughout the book you follow a woman trying to live her best life and trying desperately to learn from the mistakes of others. She’s thrown one curve ball after another and has to adjust all while trying to maintain her new professional goals and dreams. This book is popular for a reason. It’s inspiring, it has a message, and there’s wisdom within the pages. Be aware, some of the pages are difficult to get through as they reflect an abusive relationship.
This book and another of Colleen Hoover’s books that I’ll review soon are comparison titles to the novel I’ve been working on, THE FALSE FLAT. The messages are completely different and there’s no abuse in my novel, but there are some parallels: both our main characters experience ups and downs and many curve-balls as they step out on their own to forge a way forward in their professional and personal lives, reinventing themselves. And both books actually occur after a father’s death. I read this book after I wrote my novel, so it was fun to find.
Do you ever have those vivid memories that you associate with sounds or smells? This happens to me when I listen to audio-books. When I look at a painting I’ve done, I’ll remember what audio-book I was listening to when I painted it. In this case, I listened to this audio-book while I was home alone, straightening my hair. I decided to do my own Keratin treatment (a treatment to temporarily smooth your hair). The fumes were obnoxious and tear inducing. I was miserable, but I listened to this book the whole time, and it got me through. And I actually used that horrible hair experience in my book. Ahh, the things we do to look semi-decent.
Medical Moment:
Did you know:
Many studies show that diet soda increases diabetes, heart disease, many other chronic health issues, and causes weight gain!
I hope your week ahead is filled with contentment and satisfaction, or at the very least, a plan to get you there! That’s what I’m working on: what I want in my process/what I can tolerate in my process to my dreams.
And as always, much glitter,
Melissa
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