Your Writing Matters

I was eager to read Colleen’s new book, Your Writing Matters, having read and reviewed three of her books, two of which were very useful and interesting for writers – Overwhelmed Writer Rescue and Writer Get Noticed.

Does your future as a writer feel uncertain?

You write day after day. You dream of bestseller’s lists and royalty checks, but despite your best marketing efforts, those dreams remain out of reach.

You wonder if you’re wasting your time. Does your writing even matter?

Author Colleen M. Story, a long-time professional writer and writing coach, helps you decide whether you truly have a writer’s DNA. She examines why you feel pressured to make money with your work, why the search for a readership is both motivating and discouraging, and why it’s so common to doubt yourself along the way.

Step by step, you’ll gain a clear-eyed view at the challenges a writer faces in the outside world, while taking your own journey inward to discover what writing really means to you.

Should you continue on this path, or adjust your course now before it’s too late? Don’t waste your precious time in indecision. Let Your Writing Matters guide you to your truth and you’ll never look back again.

Self-doubt is something that plagues a lot of writers and this book is really a great resource to find ways to battle this. In her usual practical and thoughtful manner, the author makes the reader feel that s/he is not alone in this. She delves into self-doubt, what motivates writers, the challenges they face and how to press on with writing despite these challenges.

The book has 3 sections: Why Writers Doubt Themselves, The Many Benefits of Writing, and Make the Big Decision. The chapters are short and easy to read. The book has a lot of resources including self-reflection questions and practical things that a writer can do to overcome self-doubt. It also includes a list of recommended reading.

I would certainly recommend this book to a writer wondering about the way forward – whether s/he should continue writing.

Book Excerpt

Book Excerpt from Chapter 1

Perhaps one of the most torturous questions in a writer’s life is, “Should I be doing this?” Learning how to write well is difficult enough without adding the pain of indecision. Yet that’s what most of us endure—and for some of us, it can last for years.

For my first full decade of writing stories, I questioned whether I was wasting my time. There was no outward indication that I should be a writer. Teachers had praised my writing in the past, but no one had ever told me I should consider “being” a writer. I had started writing stories on a whim, feeling a strong urge to do so after graduating from college. But despite garnering some early publications and landing a full-time writing job, I still wondered if I had the talent to be a novelist . . . or if I was wasting my time.

Part of my indecision stemmed from failing to get a publishing contract early on. Another part of it was rooted in my own self-doubt about any talent I possessed. The feedback I received on submissions to editors, magazines, and contests didn’t always help either, since some of it was positive and some, negative.

Like many writers, I went back and forth for years, sometimes thinking I could do this and other times thinking I would never reach my goals and that my writing didn’t matter anyway. In the middle of it all was indecision—a difficult state of mind you may be experiencing right now.

How Indecision Can Be Painful for a Writer

Writing while remaining unsure about whether you should be writing is like riding a bicycle while dragging a 100-pound block of lead. The weight of indecision not only interferes with the act of writing. It’s also the source of a never-ending supply of chronic stress and psychological suffering.

When you’re not sure if you’re a real writer, every writing session is tainted with insecurity, guilt, and tentativeness. You’re not sure if writing is the best use of your time. Before every session, you wonder about doing something more useful. Maybe you tend to other duties first because you’re not earning anything from writing, so how important can it be? Perhaps even if you do write, you may feel guilty for wasting time you could have been doing something more rewarding like enjoying the afternoon with your partner, children, or even your dog.

The urge to write, coupled with this sort of guilt, results in a lasting state of stress and pain. The internal push and pull it creates can affect you for years and hold you back from reaching your full potential, as many now-successful writers can confirm.

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Meet the Author:

Colleen M. Story inspires writers to overcome modern-day challenges and find creative fulfillment in their work. Her book on author platforms, “Writer Get Noticed!,” was a gold-medal winner in the Reader’s Favorite Book Awards and a first-place winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards. “Overwhelmed Writer Rescue” was named Book by Book Publicity’s Best Writing/Publishing Book in 2018 and was an Amazon bestseller. Her novel, “Loreena’s Gift,” was a Foreword Reviews’ INDIES Book of the Year Awards winner, among others.

Colleen frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Her first course, “How to Finish the Creative Projects You Start,” is available on Teachable.

Go to Colleen’s website for free chapters of her books.

connect with the author: website ~ twitter ~ goodreads ~ bookbub

Giveaway:

Enter to win a $15 Amazon Gift Card courtesy of Colleen M. Story, author of YOUR WRITING MATTERS! (one winner/USA only) (ends July 5)