The Challenge

In Michael Hyatt’s blog post on Wednesday (Thomas Nelson), he wrote something that really resonated with me:

“Embrace the challenge. Getting published is not easy. Instant success is not the norm. And even if you got it, it wouldn’t be good for your character development. What happens to you in the process is as important as what ultimately happens to your book. You will need this same tenacity again and again.”

This is so true and something I’ve come to realize in the past year.

I’ve never been afraid of a challenge. I’ve loved to ride the more temperamental, unpredictable horses and learned so much in doing so. In college, I enjoyed the higher-level classes. In my journalism and freelancing, I took on the difficult topics that required digging deeper or talking to hard-to-reach sources.

When I took on my fiction writing, I figured it would all be similar: I’d take the rough road but come out on top like I had so many other areas. But God had a different plan. When I entered my manuscript into a contest without putting it through a critique group or really learning the ins and outs of CBA fiction writing, I got back a “grade” I’d never seen on one of my papers. Surely, the judges were mistaken.

Nope. Looking back now, after learning and growing in my fiction writing this past year, I realize how far I’ve come. And how much I’ve enjoyed the journey! This has taken more perseverance than I’ve ever known and I will have to keep at it.

I wouldn’t trade this past year of growth for anything, not even my manuscript in print (especially as it was a year ago!). I’m continually tweaking it and improving it. That’s the key to the publication process, and though it is disheartening and sometimes seemingly impossible, it’s unavoidable. So all you fellow unpublished writers, let’s rally, pick up our pens and face the challenge. After all, this is the fun part, right? 😉