blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Let’s face it. Authors are not immune to worry. It’s natural. Except for the completely confident or the delusional, writers worry that their words won’t matter, that no publisher will want them, that if a publisher wants them no reader will read them, that sales numbers won’t be significant enough to warrant another contract, that books aren’t shipping fast enough, that there’s a grave typo that will make readers hate the whole book, that the world will end two days before their release date…
Many would say writers have more reason than ever to worry.
- Uncertainty with a capital U regarding almost every arena of life right now
- Complications of releasing a book during a pandemic and its aftermath
- Complications of writing a book during said pandemic and accompanying aftermath
- Concern that financial hits to the family mean you can’t sell your book fast enough to make a difference
- Distress over the pace at which publishing naturally flows
- Fear that your writing muse succumbed to its own virus and won’t survive
- Apprehension about your project being outdated before it gets published because life is changing so fast
All valid concerns, which is why we should probably talk about what worry accomplishes in regard to the above (and your own) list.
(This blank space is a clue.)
All the good worry accomplishes:
- Zip
- Nada
- Nothing
- Zero
- Huh uh
- Nope
- Not that either
- (crickets)
- Nothing from nothing is nothing
But worry accomplishes a robust list of negative results:
- Despair
- Depression
- Out of control anxiety
- Sleeplessness, which stifles creativity
- Mental paralysis
- Rushed writing
- Less than excellence
- Obsession with all that’s wrong or different or complicated, which makes potential solutions fuzzy at best
- Missed opportunities
- Personality changes (You won’t like Grumpy Writer, even if it’s you.)
Now that we know all the good worry does adds up to zero:
- File worry in a different folder. It doesn’t belong in the MUST DO folder, but in the TRASH folder.
- Convert worry into productive energy. Like a solar panel converts sunlight into electricity, you have the tools to convert worry into innovation. If the above worry reasons are lurking, then what will we do to combat, avoid, override, or maximize their flip side?
- Locate worry’s soft underbelly, its vulnerability. For some, that might mean realizing that worry is weakest when they’re reading, meditating, or worshiping. For others, worry shrinks when they head out for more walks around the block (clears the fog and racks up the steps). Some writers discover that worry hits hardest when other stressors are loud–children, finances, messes–and determine to relegate worry to a safer time. Write “worry” on your calendar for a week from tomorrow. Not today. The kids need you. Your spouse needs you. You’re on deadline. Hint: A week from tomorrow, you’ll forget what this week’s specific worry was. You’ll likely discover a new concern. Yeah, that can wait until the end of the month.
Image courtesy of Pixabay - Turn the concern on its head. It’s complicated to release a book during a pandemic (or any disaster) and its aftermath? Time for creativity and innovation to step in and take the spotlight.
This much we know. All the good worry accomplishes adds up to less than nothing. What can we do to adjust and trust?
The Lost Art of Hand Selling
When uncertainty and worry sneak in and try to paralyze me, I have learned that making some kind of plan for the goal in question gets me rolling forward. The plan can adjust as circumstances take shape. To start planning, however, I must get my eyes off the murky circumstances and onto the Unchanging God who stands above the fog, and ask for His perspective. He can see much farther than I can. And He’s happy to share what He knows will help me.
Great thoughts, Karen.
An advantage of growing older is my history of worthless worries–I have an impressive collection. When some worry comes along now, I look back and think “been there, worried about that, didn’t help.” I’m still learning that God’s whispers don’t come as worries, they present as opportunities: to try again, to do better next time, to receive (and give) grace and mercy.
Love this, Shirlee! An impressive collection. 🙂 I remember a grandmother who mourned a breach in the relationship with her son’s wife. The grandma feared she would never be able to see her grandchild again. God surprised her by turning her into the child’s caregiver. So many tears turned into so much joy.
Such a wonderful reminder, Cynthia. And you ended on the secret of life … trust. Trust in God. It was my only true goal for my adopted daughters. Trust that God put them in the home he did. I didn’t want them yearning for anything that would never satisfy. Only God. If only the world and each individual would take “trust in God” and hold it to heart. “Why are you downcast, Oh my soul? Put your hope in God.” Are you sad or upset about this or that? Not for long, because I have a heavenly Father who will far exceed my expectations, who’ll mend every hurt, who’ll set every wrong right … in His way, His order. I’ve had a heap of concerns with my mother in the hospital. Will I contract the virus going to see her? Will I get the infection she has? Will I bring it home to my husband who is in bad health? Not to mention my writing worries. I dreamed last night that an evil person was coming after me, and I started saying “Jesus” over and over in my sleep … I fought hard, everything within me, to voice His name. My Rescuer. I woke up saying His name out loud. Woke my husband, too. At least I knew who to call on. Praise God.
Everyone has a unique way to deal with worry. More than a few of us have discovered that the simple name of Jesus sends worry fleeing. (Sometimes it takes dozens of repetitions of the name, but still…)
Cynthia,
Thank you for these wonderful insights about worry. There is much in our world outside of our control. Some of our best actions are to do what we can and then (with God’s help) let the rest go. We are living in unusual times.
Terry
author of 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed
True, Terry. In the book world are reflections of the kinds of concerns facing the non-book world. Let’s be gentle with one another.
I’m not really worried;
it’s such a waste of breath!
Instead, by fear I’m buried,
and I am scared to death.
Yes, I know that Heaven waits
and with God I’ll remain,
but ’till then my gruesome fate’s
cancer’s filthy pain.
I’ve got to keep my steps ahead,
but sink now to my knees
in the mire that I have bled,
and I ask you, please
do not leave me, fallen there,
but hold me in your heart in prayer.
You have my prayers, Andrew.
I wish I could do more.
Elissa, as I write this it’s a terrifying moment in a terrifying time, but I can say that prayer is the most important thing.
Over to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from “The Death of Arthur”:
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
Andrew, You are in my prayers (and mty husband’s too) night & day, every day. God is awaiting yoou just beyond the veil.
Cynthia, this post was so timely for me. Thank you for sharing this and reminding us that worry accomplishes nothing. God’s got this! Thank you.
Grateful for you, Crickett!
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Yeah, this is so true. I do better when I consider worry as a reminder to pray … and maybe cook!