Faith Mortimer-author of crime, suspense, romance & action
  • HOME
  • SIGN UP TO MAILIST
  • Faith's Blog
  • CRIME BOOKS
    • Excerpt from The Assassins' Village
    • Excerpt from Children of the Plantation
    • Excerpt from The Surgeon's Blade
    • Excerpt from Camera...Action...Murder!
    • Excerpt from Childhunt
    • Excerpt from Devil's Brae
    • Excerpt from A Deadly Learning
    • Excerpt from Behind a Twisted Smile
    • Excerpt from A Brutal Trade
    • Excerpt from The Green Room
    • Excerpt from Paradise Prison
  • ADVENTURE/ROMANCE BOOKS
    • My Action & Adventure books & synopsis
    • Excerpt from The Seeds of Time
    • Excerpt from Harvest
    • My Romance books & synopsis
    • Excerpt from A Very Distant Affair
    • Excerpt from A Very French Affair
    • Excerpt from On Christmas Hill ~ A Seasonal Affair
    • Excerpt from A Very English Affair
    • Excerpt from Not Just For Christmas
    • BOOK REVIEWS
  • The Diana Rivers Page
  • Book Reviews
    • Reviews for The Assassins' Village >
      • Cyprus Weekly Feature 27th May 2011
  • Friends & Links.
    • Independent Writers
  • About the Author
  • Writing

Don’t ‘lose your bottle’ or ‘keep your pecker up’~ take Courage!

10/5/2012

3 Comments

 
Picture
Don’t ‘lose your bottle’ or ‘keep your pecker up’~ take Courage!

The above two sayings are good old British slang relating to courage. Courage was defined by Winston Churchill as, ‘Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities ... because it is the quality that guarantees all others.’

The word courage is often used in the wrong context. Courage is not, feeling or not feeling fear, it is not doing great deeds or with life-and-death situations. But you often need courage to do or feel these things.

Courage is a form of stubbornness. You don’t want to stop whatever you’re doing even when you need to because you’re exhausted or shamed. Courage is as necessary in everyday life as it is in moments of great turmoil. Therefore, because courage is as essential to the writer as breathing, it stands to reason that the writer who lacks courage will never thrive.

I’ll put it in simple words. You as a writer are going to try and sell your works to people who don’t care whether you make it or not – or in this scenario, breathe. You’re going to show all your hard efforts to a variety of people: editors, maybe agents, publishers and hopefully and eventually your readers. You’re going to persuade some or (all of them) how talented you are and they must present or read your work in a world who has never even heard of you.

And all the time you’re doing this you’re not going to succeed. You’ll send out your manuscript or a sample of your work and they’ll come back with little notes saying ‘sorry but not for us’ etc. Or you’ll sit and watch your rankings slide and slide on Amazon.

When this happens you’re going to feel like hell. You’ll take all the rejections seriously and personally. You’ll feel hurt, let down, ashamed and you’ll want to crawl away and die.

But let’s take a handful of magic fairy dust ~ courage. You push the rejections into a deep dark drawer, send out some more tweets/ emails to friends and you take one day at a time and PRESTO! You’ve sold something! You’ll see the magic ranking on Amazon move up a notch and you think you’re going to succeed. Maybe you won’t, but once you’ve sold one you’ll keep going and you’ll sell again.

Perhaps you think, let’s try to self-publish. You’ve had enough of dealing with agents and publishers. And in doing so you’ll have a huge new load on your mind from writing the book to artwork, formatting the e-version, selling and marketing! You might have enough money to get someone to help you, but whatever you do; you’re investing in your talent to write a good story. And it is a story worth spending the time in reading. It doesn’t stop there…as you need to write another and another to keep those readers hooked.

So you’ve made it. You’re selling books every day…but wait a minute…you’ve just received a horrible review. You’ll have people who think they’re far better at writing than you are! For shame! But you’ll also receive those glowing, fabulous reviews that make it all worthwhile. And for every good review there’s always the chance you’ll receive a bad one. Don’t be disheartened. You’ve only got to check out some of the great writers, Dickens, Bronte, Tolkien, Twain, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Steinbeck, Churchill, Shakespeare et al. only to find they’ve all been on the receiving end of some lousy reviews.

I’m always delighted by the good reviews, and I’m always hurt by the bad ones. It is life and it is what makes us human.

So carry on writing your books and find your audience. You might discover some of your friends ignore you; after all you’re succeeding where they’ve failed. You might have to put them out of mind, even your family are not always as supportive as they could be. All the time you’re still facing that chance of failure.

So far you’ve felt pain and rebuff and insignificance. You’ve had your talent and your hope battered, and you’ve cried your private tears, while putting on a brave face in public.

You are just beginning to realise you will never leave the struggle behind. Every book is another chance to fail as much as it can succeed. Every day is a challenge, and every day requires courage.

You have to place yourself in a position to fail, or you cannot succeed. Courage is saying “One more step’… up that mountain, taking your own path. It takes courage, but it only takes the sort of courage everybody can have. The real courage is not to quit when quitting would be the easy thing to do. Remember. All you have to do is take one more step.

Thank you for dropping by and reading my blog post today. I have a lot of writer friends who often write and bemoan their lot, whether it is from a bad review or just a feeling of isolation. I hope I give them the help and support they need when they need it most. A writer’s life is often hard and lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. Make good friends, treasure them and help one another, after all it might be you needing their help one day.

Thanks and have a super week!

Faithx


3 Comments
    Picture
    Awesome Indies Approved Author
    The Independent Author Network
    Follow this blog

    Archives

    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    July 2010
    March 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009

    Categories

    All
    #1 Dark Minds Novel
    2011
    #2 Dark Minds Thriller Suspense
    5 New Paperbacks
    99c/79p Special
    99c March Mayhem Days!
    99c Sale
    A Child Barefoot In The Far East
    Action
    Adventure
    Affairs
    Afghanistan
    Agatha Christie
    Agent
    A;isha Paige
    A King In A Court Of Fools
    A Mark Of Excellence ~ Phenomenal Books
    Amateur Dramatics
    Amazon Crime And Thriller
    Amellia's Call
    American Friends
    Anthology
    Are You Sitting In A False Comfort Zone?
    A Safari -Sibel Hodge
    As A Reader Or A Writer
    Assassins
    A Terrific May For The Assassins' Village And The Crossing
    Aubergine Chutney
    Author
    A Very English Affair
    A Very French Affair
    A Very French Affair On Kindle Books & Tips
    A Very Happy Christmas To Everyone
    Awesome Indies
    Azure By Chrystalla Thoma
    Bargain Book
    Bbq
    Beautiful Words
    Best Time To Be A Writer~Ever!
    Bible
    Blog
    Blogging -what's It All About?
    Blogging. What's It All About? Part 2
    Bookbub & The Diana Rivers Trilogy Vol 1
    Book Extraganza
    Book Giveaway
    Book Sale
    Book Signing
    Book Signings
    Boreal And John Grey
    Buy
    Camera Action...Murder
    Captain Bligh
    C C Mackenzie
    Character Writing
    Childhunt
    Children Of The Plantation
    Children Ofthe Plantation
    Children Of The Plantation 2 In Movers Shakersd37e39f2c2
    Christmas Romance
    Concentration Camp
    Cookery
    Cosycozy Mystery9b736d59c1
    Cypriot Village
    Cyprus
    Daily Cheap Reads
    #Dark Minds No 2
    David Ebsworth
    Death At Sea
    Devils Brae4fb8b26e5e
    Diabetes
    Diana Rivers
    Dire Straits Economy
    Does Genre Sometimes Confuse You8305e4eafc
    Donna Fasano
    Dont Lose Your Bottle Or Keep Your Pecker Up Take Couragee600336908
    Drama
    Drama And Romance
    Earthlink Series
    Earthquake
    Easter
    Echoes
    Echoes Of Life And Love
    Echoes Of Life Love02517c322e
    Editing
    Editing Penf56bf26058
    Egypt
    English
    Ent
    Eoka
    Ereader News Today
    Erotic
    Erotica
    Faith Mortimer
    Fans
    Fathers
    Fear
    Fig Recipes
    First Novel Pains
    First Person V Third Person
    Flooding
    Footprints In Singapore
    Free
    Free Kindle Books
    Free Today Children Of The Plantation
    Free Today The Surgeonaeab4e7c20
    Friendship
    Frugal Reader
    Gales
    Ghandi
    Giveaway
    Golden Eggs
    Grief
    Happy Valentine! Half-Price Special
    Harvest
    Hate
    Helthy Eating
    Historical Fiction
    Hopping The Boxes
    Hoppin The Boxes
    Hurricaines
    Hurricane Irene
    Indie Writer
    International Best Sellers
    Jacob's Ladder
    Jan Ruth
    Jealousy
    Jenny Twist
    Jeolousy
    John Locke
    Kindle
    Larry Enright
    Libya
    Loss
    Love
    Low Price
    Macbeth
    Magic
    Magic Teapot
    Managing My Expectations When Running Up That Hill
    Mandatory Evacuation On August 27
    Mastermind
    Midnight Skye
    Mountains
    Moving Swiftly To Autumn
    Murder
    Murder Mystery
    Murder She Said!
    Mutiny At Sea
    Mystery
    Mystery Sleuth
    Mystery Suspense
    Mystery Thriller
    Nazi
    New Release
    On Christmas Hill ~ A Seasonal Affair
    On Christmas Hill~ A Seasonal Romance
    On Not Hiring An Editor
    Or Money For Nothing.
    Osama Bin Laden
    Passion
    Questions Of Trust
    Radio
    Readers Beware! Your Favourite Author May Have Another Life!
    Rebecca With 2 C
    Reclaim My Heart
    Regret No More
    Rescue Ship
    Reviews
    Romance
    Romance & Drama
    Sailing
    Sale
    Sam Archer
    Sandstorm In My Heart
    Sarah Barnard
    Savoury And Dessert
    Seasonal Romance
    Seb Kirby
    Second Chance
    Seeds Of Time
    Sexy
    Shakespeare
    Sharks
    Sibel Hodge
    Silver Rain
    Singapore
    Sinking Yacht
    Soups
    Split Decisions
    Storm At Sea
    Storms
    Summer Sale
    Swallows
    Tarek Refaat
    Ten Brides For Ten Heroes
    Tenerife
    That All Important First Line
    Thea Atkinson
    The Assassins
    The Assassins\
    The Assassin S Village
    The Assassins Village
    The Assassins' Village
    The Assassins Village0948caef2c
    The Assassins Village Is Free!
    The Assassins Village Is Freea3cbdf90a5
    The Assassins Vllage
    The Assassin' Village
    The Atlantic
    The Atlantic Ocean
    The Baby Trap
    The Bamboo Mirror
    The Bamboo Mirror
    The Crossing
    The Diana Rivers Mysteries Volume 1
    The Magic Teapot
    The Seeds Of Time
    The Surgeon
    The Surgeons Blade65ffc6983f
    The Surgeon's Blade & Children Of The Plantation
    The Surgeons Blade Free Today4d74ca531d
    The With Love Project
    Thick As Thieves
    Tim Ellis
    Traditional Writer
    Tripoli
    Visitors
    War Of Hearts
    We All Have Choices -except The Glorious Dead
    Wenona Hulsey
    Wg2e Street Team
    What Price EBooks? A Writer Has To Eat!
    Whispers Indie Chicks
    Why Books Make The Very Best Christmas Presents! And Are You A Readaholic?
    Writer
    Writer And Author Libby Fischer Hellmann
    Writers Don’t WANT Everyone To Read Their Books
    Writers - Who Will Make It?
    Writing
    Ww2
    Yacht

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.