31 December 2016
Oakland, CA
Dear Friend,
This year has been a struggle in self-confidence around my business and my story telling.
On the one hand, now when I look back on how the business did with all my offerings of classes, the group program, and doing a big Master Class at a conference, the numbers look decent.
But I knew back in April that I was running out of money. Not a great feeling.
It's only now at the end of the year that I see 1) I had enough money; 2) I have been a very poor manager of money.
When money flows I do fine -- pay my bills, sock a tiny bit away for savings -- but when the flow slows to a trickle, I don't know what to do, and go into panic mode.
I share all this with you because it's been liberating to see how I handle (or don't handle) money.
And because it's the last bastion for me of feeling like a child facing an unknowable, unsurmountable task.
I have taken steps to gain clarity, move into compassion for myself, and feel the feelings of despair, helplessness, and anger.
All part of getting to know this new territory I call "managing my money."
I recently had a revelation around this managing.
For years now, I've been dedicated to writing fiction -- 18 years in fact, with ever-increasing amounts of time and energy focused on it.
And I have a lot to show for it: -- a YA fantasy trilogy published (this year I published the third book!) -- 5 romance novellas published -- 3 unpublished novels, 1 of which I plan to publish next year -- 1.99 books in a new 4-book series (I'll get book 2 done today, fingers-crossed!)
I'm proud of my output, my "sticktoitivness," my continued joy in learning all I can about how to craft compelling stories.
My realization is that I learned how to write fiction -- a hard thing to do -- by connecting to my big reason for doing so, and by doing it one tiny step at a time.
I can't expect myself to master all there is to know about managing money overnight.
But I can start small, one step at-a-time, trust my intuition as I do in my writing, let my questions guide me to the next step of learning, and above all, enjoy the journey.
I could not have persisted this long in writing fiction if I hadn't found a way to make each moment juicy and appreciated (even the painful stuff).
Every moment of every day we tell ourselves a story about ourselves, our writing, our life overall.
What story are you telling yourself about your life and your writing?
What is important to you? Are you acting on it, even though it's painful?
How can you have compassion for yourself even when it's hard?
How can you reconnect with your big reason for choosing to write fiction (or whatever you are choosing to do)?
I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. Never have. They feel arbitrary, false.
But I do believe in setting goals, making plans, and creating systems of support for every step of the way.
I opened my business 10 years ago because I wanted to help authors. I wanted to step into teaching and coaching. I wanted to help you get your stories in the world.
So I've since created a year-long group coaching program to support you in the setting of your goals, finishing and publishing your novel, and doing so in a community of support. You get advice, 9+ homestudy courses available to you anytime, two teachers with a combined backlist of 20+ published books, and a cohort of dedicated novelists.
One member said recently, "It's nice to have experienced fellow authors you can bounce ideas off of. That is very valuable to me."
Accomplishments authors in the program have made: -- published 1 novel and 1 novella -- run a successful blog tour -- scheduled their first public reading -- finished and is editing a 150K fantasy novel -- wrote and then edited a novel -- finished a trilogy and wrote a collection of short stories -- found critique partners -- finished a series and planned and started a new one -- published 2 novels in a series and published a new first book in a series -- finished a trilogy and prepared the marketing plan for 2017 release
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