After recently reading a book, Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt, I felt inspired by author William Kenower’s words. It sparks a question: Does every writer really have what it takes to write, publish, and promote a book?
He talks about how writing is rewarding, that
the very act of creating and sharing is fulfilling. It’s an art and every
writer enjoys creating. They also enjoy an audience and compensation. So, how
does an author overcome fear, insecurity, and self-doubt?
Kenower claims: “Ability alone has little to do
with what we call success.” But he says
the key to your success: “Is your curiosity – the unique, inherent, ceaseless
mechanism of your interest.”
He says: “The time to write is now.” He’s
correct. Don’t let today’s opportunities pass you by. Seize the moment to
create, publish, and market your work.
Sure, the craft of writing is filled with
obstacles and challenges, so you burdening yourself with crazy expectations,
unnecessary comparisons, unrealistic standards, or unusual pressures will not force
you to be successful. Remove the albatross and let your writing flow freely to
wherever it is destined to take you.
Writers have many sit in judgment of them,
starting with themselves, friends, and loved ones. Then you have the judgment
of:
·
Readers
·
Bookstore owners
·
Publishers
·
Libraries
·
Literary agents
·
Editors
·
Reviewers
Forget about all of that. Just write what feels
natural and important and enjoyable to you. Those who judge will judge, but do
your part by taking practical steps to make your book the best it can be.
Below are several excerpts from Kenower’s
insightful look at the world of writing and writers:
Excerpt 1
“How do you write a book? First, you find an
idea you’re interested in. Without that, you have nothing. Without that
character that speaks to you, without that “What if”, without the idea that
wakes you up at night, you have no seed to plant from which the story grows.
For me that idea was the relationship between creativity and happiness, that
these two things were inexorably linked for everyone, whether they were writers
or plumbers.”
Excerpt
2
“What
if everyone has what it takes? So much of writing and creativity is about
asking yourself compelling questions. What if I could fly? Why does my hero
love that girl? Why did I feel estranged from my father? These are the kinds of
questions from which stories are born, the kinds of questions we ask and answer
and ask and answer as we wind our way sentence by sentence or stanza by stanza
through our day’s work. The better and more interesting the question and the
more clearly the question is framed the better the answer, the better the work.”
Excerpt
3
“And
if you’re writer, you live for acceptance in some way. Practically speaking,
you must. You can’t have a writing career without it. Someone out there has to
like your stuff, from agents, to editors, to reviewers, to readers. That
acceptance from others is an experience that begins at home. The only way to
write a story that will find a publisher or a readership is for the writer to
first value the experience of writing that story, to value the experience of
discovering the idea, and of giving that idea shape, of finding the right words
and removing the wrong ones. If the writer does not accept that this experience
matters, that it is worthy of his full attention, then he will not find the
full story. Instead, he’ll offer up some half-written, pre-rejected version of
it. In other words, you must first decide an experience you enjoy, you
find interesting, you find meaningful, is valuable simply because you find it
interesting and meaningful.”
Excerpt
4
“Every
writer wants, in theory, to share his or her work, to publish and get paid and
experience the unique magic of seeing something we created in the sovereignty
of our imagination inspire or entertain or inform a perfect stranger. But a
great many writers worry that what seems so lovely and interesting and valuable
in their imagination will be seen as dull and flat and valueless when exposed
to the unforgiving attention of those same perfect strangers. Our stories, like
children, are safe in our minds; the world of public opinion can seem far less
safe. Anything can happen to a story when someone else reads it. It can be
loved or ridiculed, embraced or rejected.”
Excerpt
5
“Every
job, every relationship, every story we will tell begins within us, in a realm
only we can possibly perceive. The only difference between retreating from life
and full engagement with life is understanding that our imaginations are not a
refuge from an unfriendly world, but the source for creating the world in which
we would most like to live.”
Excerpt
6
“What
we call failure is really just resistance. We are resisting what comes next. We
are resisting our natural selves, our natural ability to receive new ideas and
take new directions. Resistance is uncomfortable and depressing and hopeless.
But it also takes effort. Most of the time, we drop our resistance eventually.
Sometimes, however, we don’t. There are people who hold on to their resistance
right up until their death. This does not mean they were incapable of dropping
that resistance, just that they didn’t. I reject the notion anyone is incapable
of dropping their resistance. If I am the one holding it, I can drop it. New
ideas, new stories, new life will come.”
Excerpt
7
“The
only way to understand someone is to see yourself in them, to see where you
overlap, which is always in love and fear and grief and happiness. It’s not so
hard; it’s always there. Which is why writers and actors can seem to become
other people because they weren’t ever really themselves in the first place.”
Excerpt
8
“So
write the story you love. If you love it, you have what it takes to write it.
Period. You may think you need more than that, but you don’t. Love will teach
you how to write it, will teach you the craft, will teach you how it begins and
ends. Let that story be filled with drama and problems and conflicts. You’re
the author and you love those conflicts and problems. You love them because
they teach your hero what he or she needs to learn and because you know they’re
not real. The reality is the ending, when the problem is solved, when the
conflict is over, and now the hero is ready to live life as it was meant to be
lived.”
Need Book PR Help?
Brian Feinblum, the founder of this
award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to
help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has
30 years of experience in helping thousands of authors in all genres.
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About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This
is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2021. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he
now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab
rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and
IBPA’s The Independent. This was named one of the best book
marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com
as a "best resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity
for Book Expo America. For more information, please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
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