What Do You Want To Be?

Read Article

WORK ETHIC

READ ARTICLE




work ethic, contentment, success, fulfillment, vicki hinze, writers library, work, when I grow up, career, strategy

FOLLOW YOUR BLISS

READ ARTICLE



bliss, direction, guidance, self-help, self-improvement, career strategy, vicki hinze, Vicki Hinze, Writers Zone, career

New Direction: Message to Readers

Since the news has broken about my new contract with Waterbrook-Multnomah to write a new series, CROSSROADS CRISIS CENTER, I've received a number of questions about the "New Direction," so I thought I'd respond to that in an informal chat audio message.

Listen here.

As always, thanks for your emails. Your supportive messages mean the world to me.

Blessings,

Vicki

VICKI HINZE
www.vickihinze.com

Tags: new direction, Vicki Hinze, podcasts, career, CREATIVE WRITING, author, novelist, emerald coast writers, blogs,

REINVENTING YOU

WARNING: This is a no-edit zone...

Regardless of career field, at some point and time, most people are confronted with the need to reinvent themselves. The reasons that prompt the reinvention are as varied as we are.

WHY REINVENT?

It may be a personal choice. The career path you’d been on, just doesn’t fit you anymore. Personal tragedies, events that have a profound impact on you, maturity and/or personal growth can ignite the desire to reinvent. We change. What we want to do with our lives change. If the change is significant, and important enough to us, we reinvent, knowing we’ll be starting over and working our way up the proverbial ladder--again.

Writers often reinvent themselves--some, many times during the course of a career. Lines/imprints come and go, demand rises and falls, risky books fail, some elect to ghost write for others and avoid all the ancillary work a writer’s called on to do. There are a thousand reasons--and all of them start with something changing. The writer, the market, sales performance, passion for what one is doing...

It may be as a result of changing times. New technology and applications has had a profound impact on people needing to reinvent to stay employed, for what they’re doing professionally to stay relevant. I’m not talking so much about trends but about advances that redefine industries and the work done in them.

I’m recalling the time when personal computers first began to appear in small businesses and a then employee told her boss that she had kept books fine without a computer for years and would continue to do so. He encouraged her to take the training the company was offering, but she refused. Not too long afterward, she ended up between the rock and hard place. Her work--the means by which she did it--had become obsolete, and since she refused to embrace the new way of doing things, she had become obsolete. She ended up unemployed because she refused to reinvent herself.

Most degrees are obsolete within five years of getting them. Most people realize that they can’t rely on what they know now to carry them through a long-term future. They must continue to grow and expand their skills. Some, like the woman above, elected not to do so. Her choice, and the outcome of it is also her responsibility. The moral of that story is, of course, to keep learning and growing--and, probably most importantly, to keep an open mind.

COMMON REINVENTION MISTAKES

Chasing Trends. One of the most common mistakes made in reinvention is that the person chases a perceived trend. The challenge of course is that by the time the trend is identified, it’s often saturated or out of vogue. Unfortunately, this happened with many writers a few years ago when suspense became so popular. Suddenly people who had no interest in suspense (and were gifted in other forms of writing) switched to writing suspense because of its popularity. A similar event occurred in “chick-lit” after Bridget Jones: a decision that has since had many of those same authors reinventing themselves and their careers yet again.

Ignoring strengths. All too often, a writer will read a book, or several books, that are outside the normal sphere, enjoy them and decide to write one. S/he does, enjoys it, and then writes another. But along about book three, the writer isn’t enjoying the new type of book anymore and interest has waned in writing them.

Maybe the new type of book doesn’t play to the writer’s strengths. Maybe it doesn’t challenge her, or the practical subjects for the novels bore her to tears. No one in this position does their best work, and because the writer ignored her strengths in making this “leap” to a new kind of book, now she has to suck it up and produce anyway (a great way to kill creativity and produce substandard work), or reinvent again. Which is one way of saying, Writer, know thyself before you leap.

That leads to the biggest, worst reinvention mistake we make:

Uniformed decisions. Far too often the writer will choose a different genre or type of work because things aren’t great in the work s/he’s doing. Because someone else is encouraging her to change what s/he’s doing. Because s/he’s done what s/he’s doing for a long time and s/he creatively yearns for an enthusiasm infusion that comes with tackling something new and different. But rather than approach the possibility of reinvention analytically, taking into account the writer (human being and artist) and the market potential, the writer just jumps.

Too often, the writer reinvents with too little thought given to the human being in the writer. It’s all about career potential, sales. Those things are important, yes, but so is the human being in the writer. If there is no contentment, excitement--no passion--for what you will be doing, then the specific reinvention choice isn’t the right one. Keep looking.

Any reinvention worth doing is worth the analysis required to do it well. Only by doing the work can you have any assurance that you are making the right choice for the right reason. Remember, you aren’t reinventing your career to become someone else. (That’s true even if your covers cite another name!) You’re reinventing yourself to reveal a new aspect of you.

You are at the center of your work. And you should be at the core of your reinvention. Regardless of why you are reinventing, whatever you morph to should be an outgrowth of who you’ve become, are becoming, or want to become.

That is the single most thing that writers tend to miss in transforming. And the single most thing that others miss in revamping their career strategies.

Change often stems from necessity. Sometimes it stems from desire. In analyzing your specific case, understanding why you’re reinventing, planning a solid strategy for doing it that incorporates you (your strengths, goals, dreams and desires), increases your odds of a successful reinvention.

A tip from the trench: Follow your bliss.

I did a post on this not too very long ago, so I won’t bore you with repeating it, but if your passion is engaged, little can hold you back or down or dissuade you.

Don’t consider any reinvention that doesn’t ignite a fire in you that burns so hot you think you’ll melt from the inside out. That will sustain you through the transformation, through the onslaught of those asking if you’ve lost your mind for getting off a successful track to get on an unknown one, through the challenges of starting over and working your way up the ranks again--or again after having done it before (maybe several times).

Embrace the passion and follow your bliss.

When you reinvent yourself embracing the passion and following your bliss, you’re nearly there on fulfillment and contentment. Imagine... Being nearly there coming out of the gate.

None of us had that much going for us in our first professional invention, did we?

Blessings,

Vicki

Tags: reinventing, career, strategy, goals, dreams, desire, bliss, passion, authors, writing, writers, novelists, books, contentment, fulfillment, career analysis, trends, relevance

LIFE TURNS ON A DIME

Life, they say, is what happens while you’re otherwise occupied.

I’m not sure if I believe that, but I do believe that you can miss life by being occupied. We can get caught up in crisis living and miss the turns on our personal paths that are most meaningful.

What do I mean?

Honestly, I’m grappling with what exactly I mean, so we’ll just talk it through together, since the matter is very much on my mind this morning due to two significant events.

The two events. I guess that’s a good place to start.

Event #1: a neighbor died. He and his wife had one child, a son. He was college-age, a smart guy with character and tons of potential. A few years ago, he was crossing a bridge and a car veered into his lane and hit him head-on. He had nowhere to go, and was killed. His parents suffered the heartache of losing their child and now his father has passed, and my heart aches for his widow. She’s buried her child and will now bury her husband, and she’s left to cope with the loss alone. I find myself asking how will she bear it, and praying she’s a woman of faith because, I’ll tell you, I watched my mother bury two sons and then my father and I know that her faith is what got her through it intact.

Event #2: all the tornadoes that hit in the last two days, and all the lives cut short because they did. Each of those people had lives and hopes and dreams and aspirations. I’m sure many had enormous potential and mile-long to-do lists, too. Things that just couldn’t wait, so they put their lives on hold--the things important to them personally--to do those “can’t wait,” or crisis-living things. Yet in the span of mere minutes, all of those things became insignificant. Every bit of them did, because in that twinkling, they lost their lives. All that potential and those hopes and dreams and aspirations went with them, too.

I can’t shake thoughts of them in those last minutes. When they knew what was coming and they couldn’t avoid it. What were they thinking then? When the realization hit them that they were going to die, what were their thoughts?

I’m sure there was fear. I’m sure there was anger and cries of, “But it’s too soon. I’m not ready yet.” And I’m sure there were regrets. Things done that they wished could be undone. Things left unsaid that now would remain unsaid. Self-recrimination on priorities and perspectives of what most mattered now shifting.

I’m not sure of the nature of those regrets, but I wonder... Were any of them thinking of the crisis-living things they simply had to do before the storm?

We all have duties, responsibilities and obligations. Often so many of them that we keep pushing aside high-priority personal items. It’s those things I wonder how these people felt about at that twinkling moment.

I know that during crisis moments we often see most clearly. Our focus becomes laser sharp, intense on the matter at hand and we give everything--our all--to whatever is on our minds at that moment in time.

I know that on the other side of crises, people who have experienced those moments and survived often make a sharp turn in their lives. They consider the crisis a wake-up call and redefine their lives. They take a look at their priority list and turn it on its ear. They shun crisis-living and adopt personal priority living. And often that personal priority living has to do with dreams they’ve carried with them for a lifetime, or maybe hints of that dream that in that moment of intense clarity came sharply into focus.

This has me calling the question: Can we reach that twinkling moment, that point in time where we have laser focus and gain that clarity without experiencing a personal, life-threatening crisis?

We can. It isn’t hard to mentally place ourselves in the positions of others who have been there and done that. And if we do, then we have the opportunity to learn from their experience. We might not share all of the emotional impact that they endure, but we can grasp and project and imagine, and gain deeper insight and understanding. We can awaken and seek wisdom in this way.

There is always merit in seeking wisdom. In looking at our own crisis-living items and personal priority items and weighing what we’re doing. There’s wisdom in evaluating these things when we aren’t in crisis because we still have an opportunity to change them.

For some, they’ll choose the status quo. Life’s comfortable and they don’t want it any different. That’s their choice, and I’m sure there’s comfort in having weighed the matter and made the call. The peace that comes with knowing you’ve considered it and you’re doing what’s right for you.

Some will redefine aspects of their lives. Of those who do, some will stick with those new changes and some will slide back into the old. Their choice. Again, better because it’s come as a result of deep thought and not of apathy.

Some will challenge every single thing that has been a part of their lives and make significant changes. Life-altering, life-defining changes. Of these, some will be reborn into a life very different from the one they’ve been living, and they’ll thump themselves for waiting so long. Some will wonder what they were thinking to do this at this point in their lives, in their careers. Regardless, they will choose from a broader, more insightful perspective.

You know, I don’t think what’s significant is the path one takes so much as that one takes it with a deeper awareness of life. Taking it deliberately. Intent on taking it. That is a good thing.

Whether that awareness brings a person to a point on their journey where they move straight ahead or turn on a dime, veering sharply in a totally different direction, well that’s a choice. But the awareness, and all it brings to the person, well that’s a gift.

A gift?

Yes. Absolutely, a gift. It’s one of those gems of wisdom that is home to solace and comfort and peace.

Now I know what I mean. And I’m going to reassess from this perspective. Will I stay on the current road or change directions on a dime? I don’t know. But I will know soon. Will you?

Blessings,

Vicki

©2008, Vicki Hinze


Tags: life, crisis, death, grief, change, choice, career, path, journey, wisdom, perspective, assessment, decisions, direction, awareness, authors, writers, novels, books, readers, Vicki Hinze, writer's library

How-To Have a Life and a Career When Time is Tight

©2007, Vicki Hinze



If you want to do something, you’ll find time to do it.

I’ve believed that my entire life. Which is not to say that I lack sympathy for the challenges in actually making it happen, especially when you’re juggling a home/life and a career.

Yet even with challenges, you will find time to do those things you most want to do because your desire to do them will entice you to give them “high priority” on your to-do list.

Desire breeds determination. Want it badly enough and you move heaven and earth to make it happen. I recall seeing in some magazine once a comment about Madonna. The author said long before Madonna became a hit, she’d seen Madonna in a club and “her ambition was shining like a second skin.”

Madonna knew what she wanted and went after it.
The author knew what Madonna wanted and recognized it.

But recognition isn’t enough when you’re looking at your life.
The key to doing more of what you want to do requires understanding--your own.

You must identify what you want and understand why you want it.
Understand what it takes to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Understand a simple truth about time and that is, we’re not going to find time because it isn't lost.

We all have twenty-four hours in each day. No one gets any more or any less. So our first step on this how-to path is to realize that we have a set amount of time in which to do the things we want to do--and that time (and those wants) fall right behind the things we have to do.

Some will tell you that wants hold equal importance to needs. I won’t debate that, but I will say that the majority of women functioning in real-world situations tend to do what they must and then whatever is left over is used on wants.

Want time is scarce and we don’t want to squander a second of it. Others rarely consider it but how we spend that available “want” time is significant--very significant--to us and our state of well being and contentment. (How happy would anyone be doing just the command performance things in life?)

Available want time holds the keys to understanding the dynamics of what we're doing now and how we can reclaim or reallocate to better utilize our available want time.

Some considerations that might be helpful for you in identifying dynamic keys that will afford you the ability to accomplish this follow. This listing isn't inclusive, or a cure-all. And it will take a little commitment from you to actually implement. Namely, an hour or so to prepare the first listing, and a few minutes each day for a month to note the second listing.

THE FIRST LISTING
The first listing is one on where you "think" your time goes.

Each day, just jot down what you do and how much time you spend doing it. Simple enough, but don’t be fooled. The reality in this list will surely surprise you.

THE SECOND LISTING

The second, daily listing compiled over a month, is one where you’ve jotted down where your time actually went.

The comparison of the two might not just surprise it; it might shock you. But it also might enable you to more efficiently distribute your time on things that most matter to you.

Prepare a list, as if you were dealing with one month of your life. Tag it "Think" list. (Because it is a compilation of where you think you spend your time.)

• We all have responsibilities. To family. To our "other" careers. List those responsibilities and the time you feel you spend each day fulfilling them. Be specific. Whether it's paying bills, working on the job, attending the kids' ball games. Commute time to and from work if it's significant.

• We all have commitments. (Volunteer jobs, classes you're taking, teaching. Studying. Critiquing others' work, heading PTA or other organizations..) List those responsibilities and the time spent each day fulfilling them.

• List hobbies, recreational pursuits, time spent exercising, or anything you do on a regular basis which requires your time. (Include time spent reading for pleasure, time spent watching television, etc.)

• List all other obligations that require your time on a steady basis.

Now put this list away for one month. Don't look at it, and don't think about it.

Start a new list. Tag this one "Actual."

• At the end of each day, note what you did and the time you devoted to doing it.

• Do this every day for one month.
Draft a chart to use to track some of the repetitive tasks. Amend it to suit your personal life. Charting makes deciphering the data easier.

All right, now you've got "Think" and "Actual" lists and you can compare notes.

If your results are anything like mine were, you're going to be stunned. I found that I was wasting a lot of time. And I've developed some methods to help me counteract that. I've also developed a mindset that helps me stay focused on what I most want.

Before I go any further, I want to interject here that there is nothing wrong with having free time and there should be free time included in every day. Our mental health requires it, as do our creative and spiritual selves. So what I'm about to impart must be taken with that thought in mind.

Don't schedule yourself so rigidly that you lose spontaneity or overwhelm yourself. Take time to smell not only the roses, but also their leaves and stems.

Others originally said these things but, in my opinion, they hold a lot of wisdom, and deserve consideration:

1. You can't have everything you want.
You can have those things you want most. (Norman Vincent Peale.) What do you want most? Think about it. Decide. Often we drift and do things without ever stopping to really weigh what we want, and then we suffer these god-awful feelings of being dissatisfied. So think about it, and then focus on obtaining what you want.

If you don't know what you want, you're apt to never get it. That leads to regret, and regret can be merciless.

If you don't have a map for getting where you want to go, you won't know which road to take to get there and, worse, when you get to your destination, you won’t know you’ve arrived.

Where do you want to go? If you’re a writer, is it your objective to be a star bestseller? Or do you want to be a steady producer with a low profile? What's the plan for getting there? What decisive steps are you taking toward reaching this destination?

Whatever you are doing, know your objective. Concretely define what you want to achieve and how you plan to achieve it. Develop that plan and then enact it. The best plan in the world is useless if you never take action to implement it. Only one thing is worse: not having a plan.

Without a map (or a long-range plan) you flounder, take wrong turns, get side-tracked at roadside attractions that might be fun (and might should be done for that purpose alone, but should be identified as such so that you don't fool yourself into believing these things hold value to the overall plan).

You must know where you're going to go to get there and be content. You must take concrete, positive steps so that you move in the direction of your goals and dreams. Think of this as plotting your life, because that is what you’re doing. Plotting moves you steadily toward something, ever forward from where you are to where you want to be. In this case, to be content, that goal or where you want to be should be a place or state that you’ve specifically chosen. It should not be just how things turned out, or the way the cookie crumbled. Choice is empowerment, it’s also empowering, particularly when discussing your life.

2. Be wary of advice.
Advice is a wonderful thing. Respect it. Listen to it. But in the end, follow your own path and judgment.

Only you know all the inner-workings of your plan, your dreams, and your vision. Only you, ultimately, know your entire plot, or story--all of everything in your mind and heart.

So be grateful to those who advise you. Appreciate their time, their consideration and concern and interest. But weigh the advice given into your plans and use only those parts of it that you feel are beneficial to you. And, for pity's sake, never alter your plans because so-and-so is where you want to be and s/he says your way won't work. These maps and travels are life journeys, and they are as individual and unique as life itself.

That said, don't feel you must reinvent the wheel. If so-and-so has traveled this path successfully, and you feel you can travel this same path to success, then don't feel you must alter that path just for the sake of altering or being different. Coloring outside the lines is fine, if you feel you need it do it. But coloring outside the lines for the sake of coloring outside the lines is counter-productive. Bottom line, use what works for you and ditch whatever doesn’t.

3. If your ship hasn't yet come in, then swim out to the sucker.
If you have a particular weakness, focus on it. Plan study time so that you overcome the challenge. If you want something specific, then you can't wait for it to come to you. If you aren't qualified for something you want, then get qualified for it. If you want a particular job, ask for it, apply yourself to getting it by making it a priority to learn as much as you can about the job and the likes and dislikes of performing it. Take decisive steps to acquire what you want.

4.Learn to say "No."
This was a particularly hard challenge for me. I love doing volunteer work. I love being involved. I love giving because it makes me feel good. But I learned the hard way that one person can only give so much before that person depletes themselves and can't give at all. This, too, is a loss—for oneself and for those one wishes to help.

Remember that you are one person. You can't help everyone, nor can you do everything. I know because I tried. The results? Slivered focus. Nothing much accomplished. Mental and physical exhaustion that required months of medical treatment.

Have you ever had a doctor tell you "Slow down or die?" That is what you're courting when you take on too much. The lesson I learned is to do what you can comfortably do. We all have an obligation to help others and we should help others. Do this, no less, but no more. Think TNSTAAFL. (There's no such thing as a free lunch.) You accept too much, you lose everything. Then everyone loses, most of all you.

5. If you reach for Mars, you'll never reach Pluto.
Don't be afraid to dream, to set your goals high. This is subjective, unique to each individual, but don't be timid of wanting too much, of going too far. Often we let our insecurities keep us from really stretching ourselves. I mean creatively, imaginatively, here, not over-extending, as in over-committing.

If you reach for Mars, the next planet in our solar system, then how do you know you couldn't have gone farther? But if you reach for Pluto and you get it, great. Say you only get to Uranus, well, you've gone two planets farther than you would have had you set your sights on Mars.

The important thing here is that you acknowledge your right to fall short of your ultimate goals. That you don't browbeat yourself for traveling to Uranus and not to Pluto. There's a fine balance here, and you have to look at each success and enjoy each success along the way. You must not fail to enjoy the successes because you're so intently focused on the goal, in this case, Pluto. Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn hold value and the joys found in them deserve savoring, too.

Now, enough philosophy and onto implementing practicality.

Prioritize. After you've studied your Actual list and seen where you've really been spending your time, consider how you can restructure your time to use it more efficiently. I do this with what's commonly referred to as The $10,000.00 Plan.

This plan is no more than a simple Things-to-Do list. A daily list wherein the tasks that must be done are put in order of importance. Then you start at the top of the list and work your way down it. Those things most important are accomplished first. This is a flexible thing, because something always comes up. But if you work by priority, the most important things do get accomplished.
Incorporate. Into your daily plan incorporate the decisive steps that will get you where you want to go. In other words, add your long-range plans to these daily plans. This requires you set goals. I have them for the day, week, month, year, as well as a five year plan and a Master Plan.

My Master Plan is where I want to get long-term. It contains career aspects, but also emotional and spiritual aspects. Why? Because I have non-career aspirations as well as career ones and the master plan deals with the entire me, not just one part of me. I incorporate these emotional and spiritual aspirations on my daily lists as well. That helps me focus on everything without losing focus on any one thing.

Schedule. I know that many people are opposed to schedules. I'm not. They work for me. The key to this is to have a schedule only so rigid as to be productive and not stifling to you. Find your level, and use it for the good it can do for you. You might not benefit from set hours to accomplish set tasks. You might. Only you know this.

I schedule time to study, to critique, to work on my own novels, to work on articles, booklets, and other material. I have set days to pay bills, to look at and deal with personal business, correspondence, and errands. I schedule a great deal because I feel more in control and I'm focused. I gain a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction with each check mark signifying a task has been completed. I also schedule "free" time because I'm a workaholic, recognize that weakness, and know I'm prone to not taking free time. I schedule days off and vacations for the same reason. If I didn't, I wouldn't take them. I wouldn't be balanced and that isn't good for my mental, physical, or spiritual health. Robbing Peter to pay Paul leaves everyone busted and unfulfilled. So find the level of schedule (whether rigid or lax or somewhere in between) that is of greatest benefit to you, then utilize it.

Self-discipline. As the name implies, self must take matters in hand, analyze them, adapt them to make them work, then accomplish them. For example, writing is a creative pursuit, but if you wait for the muse to strike to work, you're not going to make a career of writing commercial fiction. No one is going to stand over your shoulder, crack a whip, and yell, "Ass to leather, Writer!" You have to monitor and accept responsibility for what you do yourself. You have to put your backside in that chair and write.

Some time-saving points:

These are little things, but over the course of a week, a month, they add up to hours. Hours you can better spend on writing.

1. Look at mail once. Deal with it, and be done with it. Don't stack it and be forced to review it again later.

2. Don't procrastinate. If you know something is coming up in two weeks, give it priority on your list and get it finished and out of the way. Otherwise, you think about needing to do it, wasting time and energy, and worry about it when none of those things actually DO anything.

3. If you're working full-time, utilize your lunch hours a couple days a week to accomplish a priority item on your list. Be that studying, answering correspondence, or writing--whatever you can feasibly do. When I worked full-time, I incorporated free time with lunchtime so that I could just relax and not feel guilty about all the things I should have been doing. I scheduled lunches with my husband several days a week. This was terrific all around.

4. Never cut corners if it cuts quality. In other words, don't resolve to get up an hour earlier if in doing so you're comatose. Comatose, you're not accomplishing a thing. You have to have reasonable expectations on what your capabilities are and reasonable acceptance of your limitations. If you have 30 minutes a day to write, then it could be helpful to say, I write this particular thirty minutes each day. It could gear you up so that when that time arrives, you know you're supposed to produce and so you do it. But if having a set time to write inhibits you or makes you anxious, then it isn't beneficial, it's destructive to have that set time. You must try methods and use that which works for you.
In closing, the phrase, Physician heal thyself comes to mind.

While we aren't ill in the traditional sense, if we aren't satisfied with our progress, our production—our lives—then we can in a sense be physicians who heal ourselves.

There are some things we cannot control. But there are many things that we can and should control. The first step is to recognize the difference. To understand those things we can change and then to change them in ways that are constructive to our entire selves.

In doing the lists, then analyzing them, I came to better understand myself, what I want and I reevaluated what's important to me. I hope that in doing so you will find the same benefits I found. It is work, yes. It does take a little time, yes. But if you do it, you'll have a firmer grasp on a higher quality life and career you want--even when time is tight.*

Blessings,

Viciki

BELIEVE

BELIEVE
©2007, Vicki Hinze

Warning: this is a no-edit zone...

It’s easy to believe when things are going well. It’s easy to believe when you’re enjoying the support of family, friends, colleagues, associates, peers. It’s easy to believe when you’ve nothing at risk and nothing to lose.


But those aren’t the times when you best know yourself. Those aren’t the times when you stand alone with your dreams and you just can’t see a way to make them manifest. Those aren’t the times when you question your abilities, your competency, your motives and your methods.


No, when things are going well, you ride the wave and you don’t stop long enough to think or consider or weigh the consequences of your actions or the veracity of your path. You enjoy the ride. You press on, believing that if change were in order, something would be amiss.


And this holds true, even when things aren’t perfect. We’re human; we expect imperfection. But so long as the good is a decent stretch from the bad, we’re okay with it. We do what we do, and we don’t examine any one thing too closely. Why? We’re comfortable, and we do like our comfort.


We attach beliefs and emotions like security and stability to comfort. A sense of well being. It even pricks at our esteem in a good way--we’ve got a pinch of the golden touch and we say things like, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We are lulled into complacency and apathy on self-examination, and we detach from the very things that gave us the determination and drive to do what we do. We digress. We lose focus. We no longer seek our quest with the zeal necessary to achieve it. We allow ourselves to become distracted.


Then suddenly things aren’t so great anymore. We lack satisfaction, then we’re restless. We’re annoyed by that, and then we adopt new mindsets that are more in line with emotions than with logic. We feel lost. Betrayed. Angry. Helpless and hopeless.


Some say, they’ve grown weary of the struggle. Some say they’ve worked too hard for too long to be in the position they’re in, and they abandon their desires for the promise of security in something else. Something that doesn’t hold their desire or passion, but meets mundane and other very real needs. Some fold under pressure from other influences and in doing so discover a new dream or quest.


None are right or wrong, and that’s my point.


Life and careers are made up of seasons. People come into our lives for purposes and then when that purpose has been addressed, they fade and go on to appear in the lives of others. Writers write a type of book until something happens to change the dreams and desires of the writer, then s/he writes another type of book. Or pursues another career--often one related to something about which the writer has written that ignited something in him or her.


Careers aren’t linear, just as personal growth and life isn’t linear. We constantly grow and change. We wear many hats, play many roles. Often we live many lives in one lifetime.


At times we’re teachers, at times students. But at just as many times, we’re both. During these seasons, we’re gathering what we need to take on our next personal season. We’re giving others what they need to prepare for theirs. We’re putting in foundations and we’re harvesting that which we’ve gathered.


It’s a magical thing, the way these seasons work. How in one facet of our lives we can be planting, in another facet, watering that which we’ve already planted, and in yet another facet of our lives, we’re harvesting from seeds we planted and watered long, long ago. (Think of the “overnight success” that was twenty or thirty years in the coming.)


Yet in the seasons where things that have our focus aren’t going well, or we don’t have the support we feel we need and there’s nothing left to risk or lose, we tend to single-mindedly focus on the past. We think of better times and we resent that we’re not in them. Other areas of our lives might be stellar, but we ignore that because it is what has been lost that claims our attention. And because we’re human, we give it.


Yet here’s the thing. When we do this, we give our effort and energy to what’s wrong. We discount the value and worth of what’s right. We neglect the good to embrace the bad. This is not a good thing. Without focus will what is right continue to be right? Unlikely. Good needs its time, too. Recognition and appreciation is a terrible thing to waste.


Some spend so much time looking back and wallowing in the past, they do nothing, notice nothing, prepare nothing for the future. They’re so preoccupied with the past (good and bad) that they don’t notice the opportunities in their present path, much less dream the dreams that could be their futures.


We need bad times as much as good ones. We need to keep looking at who we are and what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. I’m not talking about self-absorption. The world is a big place and everyone and everything in it matters. But we’re mortal, and we can’t do or be all things to all people.


We can do our part. But to do it, we have to see what “it” is, to recognize it, to embrace it.


Now if we’re lost in the past, longing for better times, or if we’re riding the wave of comfort and lost in apathy and lulled into complacency, we’re not apt to see much and we’re even less apt to dream. This is not a good thing for our present and it’s worse for our future. It breaks us down. If comfortable, the breakdown is more pleasant to endure, but either way, we’re still broken, and we’re still suffering those pangs of disenchantment and those twinges (or gnawing pains) that come with a lack of fulfillment.


So what is the key? When times are good or bad, what keeps us balanced and attuned and aware so that we don’t lose sight (and our present and future along with it!)?


We believe.


Believing is and isn’t an act of faith. It’s a choice, too. It’s reconciling the head and heart and accepting that reconciliation as truth. It’s seeing the value and necessity in bad times. It’s appreciating their worth as much as the worth of the good ones.


We hear people say, nothing good lasts forever.

Why don’t we hear people say, nothing bad does, either? Historically, even the stock market’s only stayed down seven years. And even IRS only looks back seven. Why do we beat to death our entire past to the detriment of our present and future?


We hear people say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Does this mean the little fall less or drift and not crash because they’re little? The big may make more noise or get more attention when they fall, but I doubt they suffer the fallout from the fall a bit more than the tiniest. No matter where you are on the ladder, when you hit the ground, you’re on the ground.


We hear people say, you have to have money to make money.

Are we seriously advocating that? Discounting all the proof to the contrary? Should we alert Oprah that she can’t have money because she didn’t have it to make it? Bill Gates? There are millions of others. Enough said.


Here’s the thing. We can find a familiar quote to fit either side of any situation. Whether looking on the bright or dark side, someone somewhere has said something about it. If you’re of a mind to align with the dark, it’s there. If you’re of a mind to align with the light, it’s there. You choose your alignments, just as you choose how to view whatever season you’re in on whatever aspect of your life or career has your focus.


You choose. And you do--based on what you believe. About you. About your situation.


You can choose to wallow in the depths of despair, giving all you’ve got to what’s wrong. Or you can choose to fly the heights of joy, giving all you’ve got to what’s right. You can also choose to keep one foot on the ground and the other planted firmly in the sky.


You can believe that there is good and bad and that creates balance. You can believe that seasons come and go for reasons, and part of their purpose is to give you opportunities to not become lax or apathetic, or indifferent. Opportunities to keep assessing and defining your goals and aspirations and dreams.


Staying personally balanced through these seasons comes in knowing there is good in them. It’s said that necessity breeds invention. We need, therefore we create. There’s wisdom in that. We grow and change because we must. (Stagnant anything dies, right?) And change, being outside our comfort zone, seldom comes easily or without costs. But the cost doesn’t have to be everything. Whether that growth is painful, sorrowful, tolerable, or bearable largely depends on our attitude toward it.


If we remember that we gain through times of challenge, doesn’t that help balance things out? We might struggle and sweat, but we’re stronger, wiser, acquire a new skill, master one we had as a result of the effort?


How many races would an Olympian win without training? Without losing challenges along the way?


None. Because s/he would never have invested enough to become an Olympian.


Seasons. Good and bad times and all of value. Acknowledging the worth in both. The opportunities in both for personal growth and development.


Things will get shaken up. All things get shaken up. Fear and doubt love shake-ups because they know it’s at these times we’re most vulnerable. What can better keep us from achieving what we set out to achieve than fear and doubt? Not a thing. We relinquish ourselves to either and it owns us. We refute them, and we own us.


We let go of what was in favor of what is, and we look for the way this challenge offers us a hand up to scale our next personal mountain so we can claim it.


We know this isn’t a universal body-slam designed to take us down. We know that to get higher up, we need a challenge to snag us out of apathy and into action.


We understand that spinning wheels is an absence of traction. To get anywhere we want to go, we need traction, and in this season, we’re being offered a way to obtain it. It looks like a bad break, maybe even feels like a bad break, but we know better. We’re attuned, engaged, committed. We’ve got our goals and dreams and aspirations firmly in sight and we know this is a step up to them. We know.


We believe.


Blessings,


Vicki

©2007, Vicki Hinze



Tags: believe, support, career, path, seasons, change, transitions, dreams, focus, attention, balance, fulfillment, aspirations, goals

Are You a Candle or a Mirror?

On awakening, like everyone else, I have my rituals. One of them is to read from the Bible and then to pull a quote for the day and reflect on how the two--the reading and the quote--interrelate. The quote for today is:

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." -Edith Wharton


There are a lot of ways to look at that quote. And I expect one sees in it what they're looking for at the time. Today, my interpretation of it is that we're all both candles and mirrors at different points in time on different issues and in different situations.

I think that's a good thing. When we're capable of creating paths (whether we really want to walk them or we feel compelled to walk them for the greater good), of doing things that need doing (pleasant or not), or we take action to make situations better, we're the candle.

When we are the candle, we emit light into shadows and darkness and others see it and find their way or reflect it, emulating us, like mirrors. When your children mimic your actions. If you ask them for something and always say thank you, then they automatically do, too. When you treat others with respect, conduct yourself with dignity and grace, then others are more apt to treat you that way, as well. Not certain to, but more apt to. With free will, that's the best you can do: be responsible for yourself.

When you're the candle, you choose what light you cast. Knowing others reflect it, you should aspire to have it be the best you have to give.

When others are the candle and we act in harmony with them, then we are the mirror that reflects their light. This is why it is so important to choose those you surround yourself with carefully. If the light they cast is negative, harmful, hurtful--either inflicted directly or condoned--then you reflect it. If it is positive and constructive and helpful--either inflicted directly or condoned--then you reflect it.

When you're the mirror--and at times we all are--then you don't choose good or bad, right or wrong, negative or positive, or destructive or constructive. You simply reflect.

I'm being nudged this morning to write this post, and I never question spiritual nudgings. But this reads like a lecture on life, and I guess when you get down to it, it is. Yet like everything else it does apply to writing.

Writing is all about characters--people--and if you don't believe that, take Scarlet and Rhett out of GONE WITH THE WIND and see what you've got left. Since writing is about people, it is a mirror that reflects light.

Which makes the point of this that every author is a candle. And all the fiction the author produces is a mirror that reflects the light from her candle. That is a compass for authors to consider the impact of what they write. To consider the light they emit that others will mirror and reflect.

Carrying this one step further, solely into the fictional world, the characters are candles or mirrors, too. As writers, we serve them well by remembering that.

I hope this helps--and that you all have a glorious day filled with joy and many...

Blessings,

Vicki

P.S. Because I know someone is going to ask, I'll just answer the why question now.

I get these nudges often, and when I do, I heed them and post. Without fail, someone who gains some something from the post emails to say so. That's held true in all the ten years (or whatever it's been now) that I've done this. At first, I considered it coincidence. Now I accept that in these posts, I'm not the candle. I'm a mirror. :)

IT'S ALL IN A DAY'S WORK...

WARNING: This is a no-edit zone...


Every writer goes through periods of it, and I’m neck-deep in one such period now. That is, periods where the professional To-Do list is several pages long and for every item that finally gets ticked off, two more go on--and one of the additions is typically needed ASAP. What that means down at the bottom line is that it’s a struggle during such times to get to the actual writing.

If someone came to me with this challenge, I’d tell them to prioritize. To put the actual writing first and let everything else follow when the writing goal for the day had been met. But in this situation, my advice wouldn’t work. Why? Because I’m in the middle of launching three major projects at once and chairing a contest committee that requires constant monitoring.

Now, I can hear you say that it’s my own fault--that I should have properly planned and then I wouldn’t have three major projects launching at once, and ordinarily I’d agree with you. But in this case, two of the three major projects fell into my lap and were terrific opportunities. I had to make a choice: seize them or forget them. I chose to seize.

So what’s my point?

Sometimes things happen that aren’t bad but good things. And we have to work through the discomforts they cause to reap the benefits. While we’re going through them, it’s not a lot of fun and we do grow weary. (No doubt my darling husband would describe that “weary” a little differently; with far more colorful a description.) But if we stay focused and remember that these seeds we’re planting will enjoy a harvest, and then we’ll be glad we endured the discomfort during its season.

So I’m enduring discomfort, sleeping less, putting a lot of extra time in the office and looking forward to harvest time. Seriously looking forward to it--and to the reunion with my characters and stories. And I’m seriously working at keeping a constructive mindset and positive attitude.

Because the simple truth is that when you write for a living, you do get to do less writing. You have to share your time with all the other writing-related endeavors that go with it. And there are more of those endeavors all the time.

Writers love the writing. But not many love the related endeavors. If there’s any advice for someone new to this, it would be to find a way to love the related endeavors. Because they’re a large part of the big picture, you’ll be doing a lot of them, and it’s all in a day’s work.

Blessings,

Vicki
I need a clone.

I’m missing the days of being a writer who writes!

When do writers have time to write?

Attitude is everything!

Yes! SUCCESS!: Part 2: If You Please

"I cannot give you the formula for success,
but I can give you the formula for failure—
try to please everybody."
--Herbert Bayard Swope




I spent the morning with a writer who was feeling torn and troubled. She had this three-book contract with a publisher. I remember the day she negotiated it; she was very happy that day. The first book went well, but during the time she was writing the second book, her editor received a good offer that included a promotion at a different publishing house and left. While happy for the editor, the author was worried about the departure’s impact on her and her books. The author was what we call orphaned.

Her worry was unfortunately justified. While those who make editorial assignments attempt to pair authors with editors who will love their work, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, it can be a real nightmare for everyone involved.

The author and editor both can really put forth effort to mesh their visions, but there are times when no matter how hard one tries, or how many times one revises, the visions are just in different worlds. Sooner or later, usually after much teeth-gnashing and many attempts to please, one or the other realizes this just isn’t going to work out, and cries uncle.

That’s a painful time. Admitting defeat is never painless, but when you’ve made so many attempts to satisfy and please and still failed, it can be devastating. It can convince an author that she can’t write. It doesn’t seem to matter how many awards she’s won or great reviews she’s gotten or how many fan letters she’s received. Those things are in the past and this is now, and now, she can’t please her editor and somehow in her mind that equates to her not being able to write.

It’s easy to get mired down in negativity in these circumstances. It’s easy to feel that same doubt about your skills and abilities and gifts that you had when you first started writing. And it’s humbling, to say the least, to be told that the work isn’t acceptable.

But here’s a couple things we should remember and often forget in this situation:

1. Every match isn’t made in heaven. Some author/editor matches are never going to be productive. The two people involved see what is being done from totally different perspectives and they don’t (or can’t) appreciate the view from the other’s perspective. That’s not a flaw, it’s just the way it works because people are different. And even though it’s hard to remember that’s a plus, it really is a plus.

2. Purpose. If an author writes with purpose, then this type of challenge creates far less havoc for the writer, insofar as ability is concerned. Yes, a terminated contract can cause financial challenges and other kinds of havoc, but those types of challenges are easier to deal with if your writer’s esteem and worth isn’t trampled. You’re in a far better place mentally to accept that this is not personal. It isn’t a reflection on you but on the marketability of this work, at this time, by this publisher. No more than that.

You see, each publisher has a vision of what it wants its company to be. Each editor has a vision of what she wants her body of work to be and a vision of how that body of work fits into the publisher’s vision of itself. And then every writer has a vision of her career and how she fits in with the editor and the publisher and their visions--and a vision of each work within her body of work and how it fits in with her career and how that fits in with the editor and publishers’ visions. See my point?

It isn’t just about the book. Or the author. Or the editor. Or the publisher. Or the bookseller, for that matter. It’s about all of them, and more.

So when an author lets her writer’s esteem nosedive on an issue like this, it’s not really a fair thing to do. It’s taking everything onto herself and ignoring all the other spokes in the wheel. A wheel doesn’t have just one spoke. It requires more support and balance than that.

3. Terminating a contract can be a painful thing. You work hard to get one and then to lose it... well, it’s frustrating, and it can be financially crippling--if you’ve allowed yourself to be reliant on that which is not yet actually yours.

Many years ago, a then bestselling writer gave a piece of advice I’ve never forgotten. Never count on any money that isn’t in your hand--and only count on it if all terms and conditions for losing it have been met. In other words, remember that an advance is an advance against royalties. It isn’t royalties that you’ve already earned until the book has been accepted.

That advice sounded smart to me, so I don’t even include advance money in my budgeting. I get it. It’s there in the account. But I don’t rely on that money until such time as the manuscript is accepted and it’s mine. I pass this along because there have been times when that practice has proven its worth.

It’s not easy for most writers to survive financially. Yes, some are extremely well paid, but the majority don’t earn a decent living. Last I checked through Author’s Guild, the average income from writing was about $5K a year. But for those who are attempting to earn a living at it, it requires discipline and sound fiscal practices. Not spending what isn’t totally yours is a sound practice. And that includes reliance on projected income when there is no assurance that the projected income will be met.

Many contracts contain a clause that if the contract is terminated and conditions are such that the author must repay advance payments, that repayment is made from the first resell of the work or within a certain time. I’ve seen contracts with six months or a year and some with five years. This gives the author time to market the project elsewhere and another opportunity not to fall into financial havoc. But some contracts don’t have this provision and having to repay sums advanced immediately can cause financial hardships. The moral of that story is to know what you sign and plan accordingly.

It’s heartbreaking to see an author torn up about something like the termination of a contract. Losing an editor is always a difficult thing. You seek and seek the perfect one for you. Someone who sees the vision inside your head and gets your humor and trusts you to make things work logically and to pull things together in a way that makes sense. That’s a tall order, but we do manage to do it.

And then through no fault of anyone, that relationship is gone and the author and the new editor have to find their feet with each other and develop a new relationship. I’ve had this happen several times. Often it worked out great. Really great. On a couple of occasions it didn’t.

On those occasions, like this author, I tried to make it work. But the simple truth s, if it requires enormous effort, it’s not right. That’s a signal I learned to watch for, and one that’s proven valuable to me. When it’s not right, it’s no one’s fault. It’s just not a great match. A “not great” match can sometimes work, with time and trust and learned respect. But it does take the effort of both parties. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a good match grow into a great one, but I have seen some good matches be extremely productive ones.

I came to recognize these times and places in my life as turning points. And I have to say--looking back with the clarity you only get from hindsight--that those turns were good ones. I went into new directions, did new things that I came to love. I tried new ventures I wouldn’t have tried. Let’s face it. We all like comfort. And so long as we’re rocking along and we’re comfortable, we’re less apt to adventure. It’s human nature--and proof that it really is necessity that breeds invention.

How many times have you heard authors say that they tried this or wrote that as a last ditch effort? One to save their career, to allow them to keep writing? Or that an author switched genres because xyz happened and they had to take drastic measures?

Even with the benefit of others’ experiences in that vein, it’s hard to remember that turning points are good things when we’re the writer who is displaced or unsettled and we can’t see the path in front of us clearly. But knowing those times and challenges exist for others and that many others have successfully navigated them should offer us solace and hope and reassurance that strengthens us to lick our warriors’ wounds and cocoons that writer’s esteem. The truth is that the sooner we do recognize we’re at a turning point and we get going on locating and then walking that new path, the sooner we settle in again.

The thing is, we’re not ever going to really settle in. Not indefinitely and not if we’re lucky. Life doesn’t work that way. It always tosses new challenges into our paths. Maybe that’s a good thing. We stay interested, invested; we don’t stagnate or stop growing. We do get past the upset and get focused on the new adventure. And let’s face it. That can be exciting. Wonderful. Intriguing. Elevating and liberating.

Change isn’t a bad thing. Yes, it can create havoc, but mixing it up rejuvenates and that’s valuable, too. Change can be a terrific thing, even if the transitions themselves suck. And more often than not, they honestly do.

We can gripe and moan and be devastated, or we can vent and get over it and press on to what comes next. Obviously the sooner we press on, the sooner the transition passes. And obviously if we remember that no one person can please all other people the easier we’ll be on us during these times.

I think that’s a key stroke in success. We don’t let transitions attack us, the human being and writer inside. We accept that we all have different visions and goals and purposes and we come together for a time and when that time is done, it’s done, and it’s time for the next leg of the journey.

Really. Life is in the journey. And after all, we aren’t just building a career. We’re also building a life.

Blessings,

Vicki

YES! SUCCESS!: Part 1: WHAT DO WE WANT?

Today I’m starting a new series, Yes! Success! And I hope that whether or not you’re a writer, you’ll gain something of benefit from the posts. The ideology and methods are universal to whatever career you’ve chosen or whatever path you’ve decided to embrace and walk.

Yes! Success!: PART 1: WHAT DO WE WANT?

We all want something. It might be fame, fortune, validation of worth or to be assured that we’re not just taking up space but living. And at some point, we all realize that our entire lives last but a blink, that our great-grandchildren won’t know much about us or be aware of our struggles and accomplishments--in a few generations, we’ll be forgotten, and that inspires us with the desire to leave an immortal mark.

Many writers console themselves with the fact that they’ll leave behind their books. They will speak for us. They will let those who come after us know who we were, what mattered to us, how we thought and what we thought about. But while we are in our books, we are not our books, and so a time comes when we realize that this might or might not be the immortal mark we sought.

And that leads us to ask a defining question: What is success?

For some writers, it’s making the New York Times list. Earning a lot of money, having a lot of adoring fans, long lines in front of you at book-signings. It’s being treated with deference and respect by your publisher, your editor, your agent, your publicist, your writing peers, your fans, your family, strangers on the street.

For other writers, it’s selling your books consistently so that you have a stable income and can help out with the family financial responsibilities. Fame and fortune and adoration aren’t your cup of tea. Paying your bills is because it enables you to be at home, caring for your family.

For still other writers, success is hearing from one reader that something they wrote impacted that reader. Helped them through a hard time. Opened a window or door in the reader’s mind so that s/he saw something a little differently, understood something that before then s/he hadn’t understood.

For other writers, success is experienced not through the books written, or the sales, or the adoration of others, or even the recognition that the writer wrote. Success is in knowing that the writer made a difference in one other writer’s life.

And for still other writers, success has nothing to do bestseller lists, or publishing, or fans or other people. Success has everything to do with writing a book. With gathering ideas and thoughts and having the wherewithal and the discipline to sit down and to keep sitting down and sticking with it, start to finish, until s/he can write “The End.”

Many of us buy into other’s visions of success without ever exploring our own. We don’t stop, drop the images of others’ definitions and think and assess and determine for ourselves our own definitions.

And that makes achieving success impossible. We will never be content nor satisfied nor fulfilled living someone else’s vision. We need--and deserve--our own.

There is no right or wrong definition, only different ones. Each is valid. Each is worthy. Each is significant.

The human being in us is often too concerned with what others think. How they’ll react. How they will treat us. What they will say--in front of us and behind our backs. But when we focus on these things, we’re assigning our personal power, our innermost selves to someone else. To someone who can and will do nothing to carve our immortal mark; they’re busy creating their own.

So while others might judge and find us lacking. Might advise us based on their definitions and not ours. We must not relinquish that personal power. They have their own. This power is ours. In it we discover and determine what we want. And holding fast to it, we ask, How do I define success?

And then, if we’re wise, we listen...

Blessings,

Vicki

©2007, Vicki Hinze


Yes! Success! PART 1:
WHAT DO WE WANT?
Friday, July 20, 2007