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Ready to Set Sail

The morning sky is colored scarlet just before the sun rises on the east side of the lighthouse. Our vessel sits anxiously at the dock as we prepare to board. Inside, a wealth of information that has allotted me a chart for becoming a successful writer and business person waits. Our voyage will take us across a sea of endless possibilities. It will involve great risk. The manner in which we deal with such adversity will determine our fate.

Come with me and share my personal experiences as a self-published author. Together we’ll travel deep into the world of writing and business as vast as the ocean itself. Here you’ll get a better understanding of a very competitive and dynamic industry. We’ll journey through the psychological aspect of the industry which is often where success is determined. All of us possess an ability to write, but marketing is what it’s all about. We’ll spend a lot of time traveling the high and low tides of marketing and sales. Since this is a progressive journey, you will learn as I learn. I’ll relate the world from whence I came to you, but we’ll travel the rest of the way together; maybe we even avoid a storm or two. So, let’s set sail. Nothing will happen while our ship remains in port.

Before we begin our journey, there are a few details I’d like you to know about me that inspired this adventure. I was born in Tampa, Florida in 1972. I survived ALL Leukemia in 1979. Some people considered it a miracle, but I saw it as a message that I have a role to play in this world. The key was to find out what that role is. I discovered my talent for writing in high school nearly a decade later. I've published two books, Waldenlake and Dewey's Christmas Adventure with more on the way. In 2009, my 11-year old son was diagnosed with Leukemia just like I had been. We made it through that journey together and I'm happy to say today he's a healthy adult! So, without further adieu, the time has come to get on board. The lines are about to be released. Soon, we’ll be traversing the tame harbor waters toward the open sea.

I’m using an oceanic voyage as an analogy because I believe it best represents the world of writing. While the ship is in the harbor, it’s protected. Sure, the water can become choppy at times, but there’s little chance of disaster. That comes later as we travel into the reaches of the unknown. The opportunity to turn back exists while the ship is in the harbor. The safety of the wharf is still within sight. However, it’s in these protected waters where the most important decision that you make as a writer occurs. That decision is whether to make writing your career or simply a hobby.

If you decide the latter, it’s best to stay in the harbor and enjoy your decision to the fullest. Share your work with as many people as possible. More importantly, love your life. Choose to do what you love. That’s what life is all about. It’s too short to waste. The sea will always be there if you change your mind. To venture beyond the harbor at this stage may very well seal your fate as a writer. Don’t be hasty. The sea is not kind to those who aren’t prepared. To take on the open ocean, a writer must possess relentless resolve, unmatched passion, and iron-like mental toughness. It’s a grueling and consuming task. Be warned. I’m not exaggerating.

For those who choose to continue, we’re nearing the edge of the harbor. It’s not too late to change your mind, but the decision to make writing your life must be an all or nothing decision. Either you give it your all or you don’t do it at all. If you’re the slightest bit unsure, you’ve made the wrong decision. In order to reap the benefit’s the writing world has to offer, you’re required to offer it something in return. In the short term you have to sacrifice time, money, and navigate through the positives and negatives that will certainly stand in your way. Great news is usually accompanied by not-so-great news. Like the seas, the world of writing is full of crests and troughs. If you expect too much, you’ll be disappointed; too little, and you cut yourself short. It’s about finding a balance while staying on course, but remaining vigilant all the while because the sense of balance changes the farther from land you get. You must be prepared to change your mindset with it. Commit yourself to being a writer at all costs. Failure is not an option. When you put yourself into that state of mind, you’re ready to leave the harbor.

By committing yourself to achieving success, you will eventually attain success. Success has a broad definition that is different for all of us. To some, success is monetary. For others, it’s tied to personal satisfaction. Determine what you think will make you successful. Once you do that, you accomplish an important step; you set a goal. In the case of our analogy, we set a destination. Goals are essential to running a business much like destinations are necessary for a journey. In order to attain a certain goal or reach your destination, you make an adjustment to your course. In the case of you, the writer, your adjustment is that you have to become a business person.

The adjustment can be difficult, but it’s crucial. To this point, your world revolved around writing. You could escape into a foreign land for as long as you wanted and return to the stability of reality at will. Unfortunately, the writing world doesn’t revolve around the world that you‘ve created for yourself or your writing. The writing world revolves around selling books; to put it blatantly, that means money. Writing is a business, and your only choice is to accept it.

To incorporate this new aspect of writing into your world, you must establish a boundary between the two and learn to cross between them while maintaining your creative edge. It’s challenging, but in reality it boils down to your perspective. If you see the business side as an obstacle to reaching your goal, you may struggle. Instead, I recommend treating the business side of writing as an avenue for inspiration. Use the time you spend dealing with commerce as down-time from writing. You’ll find it does wonders with the arch-enemy known as writer’s block. The point I’m making is that it’s essential that you understand that the writing world is every bit as much about selling as it is about producing good writing. It’s a mindset you must realize if you have any hope of reaching your goal.

With that said, you took a great leap! You made the decision to set sail! You decided that you want to make writing a career and are willing to incorporate the business of writing into your life. What’s next? Our ship passes the lighthouse protected by a ring of jagged rocks marking the mouth of the harbor. We look back and see the outline of the port. We look to the horizon with enthusiasm. What we see is not what we expected, an endless, angry ocean with daunting storm clouds in the distance. A terrible sensation sends riveting charges up and down our spine. Enthusiasm changes to dread. Our stomachs are hollow while our hearts race. The dark part of the writer’s world has found us. It has already sunk many writers’ hopes and turned others back to port. We get our first taste of its awesome power. Today, the weapon it uses against us is fear. The answer to our question is that we must conquer it. Remember, failure is not an option.

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