In this time, things are pretty uncertain.
I've had my ups and downs, and I've talked about those publicly.
It's OK not to be OK during these times—no one's going to hold it against you. But when it's over, what will you have done?
Even calling a friend to give them some words of encouragement is enough. Small wins are wins nonethless.
Writing is hard right now for a lot of people, but it's (in my opinion) necessary. Readers need stories to help them escape from the news headlines.
I read a blog article the other day that argued that the people who can master the uncertainty during this time will be the real winners. It even argued that “mastering uncertainty” is the next essential skill for success in the world. I tend to agree.
You may not have ever thought about this, but by virtue of being a writer, you already have mastered the art of surviving uncertainty.
You write a book with no idea whether it will sell…
You publish that book, and maybe it doesn't sell…
Or maybe it does sell, but your sales drop off for no reason, or maybe they take of like a rocket…
You run marketing campaigns, and maybe they go nowhere…or they ignite your book sales…
Maybe you learn how to write into the dark, which in my mind, is the ultimate test of surviving uncertainty.
If you're a SELF-PUBLISHER, the uncertainty is even worse. When you first started publishing, did you REALLY think you knew how this was going to go?
So yes, these times are uncertain, but remember that writers have an advantage because we're already living an uncertain lifestyle.
Exercise that muscle in these hard times. Use your skill to help others along, because a lot of folks need help right now. When we emerge into the “new normal”, a lot more people are going to struggle.
On an episode of my podcast The Writer's Journey last year, I talked about writers as being lighthouses, particularly with nonfiction.
A lighthouse's job is to illuminate rocks so that passing ships don't crash.
If you envisioned yourself as a lighthouse today, what shores would you take up residence on? What rocks would you try to help people avoid?
As I said before, when this is all over, where do you want to be, and how does “where you want to be” jive with where you are right now, and if you don't like the gap, what are you going to do about it today?
