Do you let internal small childish fears about
rejection direct your life or you listen to the voice inside of you that tells
you to try.
To give.
To keep
building and making something new.
Most people
will cheer you on.
Most people
will want you to succeed.
Anyone who
does not want you to succeed does not belong in your life.
Everyone is an
expert at failure.
Everyone can
point out how "this won't work," or "that won't work" or my
personal favorite, "you suck."
And they are
right.
For them,
these haters, these non-friends, these ID 10 T's are absolutely correct.
To them you do
suck.
And why would
you want to have that in your life?
Cut them out.
Find the people
who will support you.
I found it in
running.
I tried 4 100
mile races in12 months and my running friends didn't care that I
was only able to finish 2.
They said
things like, "You still ran 50 (or 60 Miles)." “Good job.” “Great
effort.”
Sometimes
success is in the trying.
I've been
working/trying to start a new business.
I've had a
couple of good months, and I'm still learning and trying.
But I'm
scared. I have been scared.
And I realized
that the fear comes from a place of being rejected.
Feeling
rejected.
It's a
childish feeling about writing that I've carried since college, when a
Professor told me I sucked.
See, I wrote
the story about some guys fighting over coffee.
His response
was "I drink coffee and I can't ever see it being that
important."
This was
pre-Friends, pre-Starbucks, pre-coffee becoming a national phenomenon.
So I listened
to him, and not to the voice inside of me.
When I moved
to LA to pitch scripts to Hollywood, I was told NO more times than I was rejected
for dates in high school.
It just became
another word.
The approach
was "if this producer doesn't like it, then the next one will."
And I wrote my
ass off.
I just opened
up a box and found seventeen completed scripts I forgot about.
Can you imagine
that, writing so much that you forgot what you wrote? I found a half finished novel and almost a
dozen outlines.
I found that
short story, the one that made me afraid to try to become a literary figure.
I stacked
those piles of paper up and figured something out.
I'm probably
not going to be a major literary figure in my lifetime.
But I'm a
pretty good hack.
I mean that in
the best way.
I write fun,
interesting stories that are like beach reads, or candy for the eyes.
I'm going to
be okay with that.
I'll sing the
Beatles song, paperback writer, and crank out dime novels based on the scripts
I wrote, and the outlines I have.
Since
September, I've published 30 projects on Amazon.
4 novels in
the Sci Fi genre, 2 of 13 in my Shadowboxer series and some of the scripts I've
written.
That's an
average of one book per week, which is an ACTION ITEM on the PLAN for my
publishing company.
I'm staring an
author's page, and if you are a reader, I'd like your support.
Watch for it
here, and then like it to get updates.
I'll do a free
promo for each book as it comes out, so download it and leave a review.
If you like
one, you might want to buy another.
Am I still
afraid of being rejected?
Yep.
But I'm also
afraid of trying to run some major distances this year after a couple of
disappointing races and injuries last year.
I'm afraid of
failing at this new career.
I've been
working on turning off my "give a damn" button.
But I do give
a damn.
A damn about
trying something new, about pushing my preconceived limits, about believing in
a dream.
I give a damn
about the freedom to travel, and build a brand, and stand for something that is
important to me.
I give a damn
about writing fun fiction about spies, and zombies, and a couple about magic
(not all in the same book though!) and even a few non-fiction books that talk
about what I've learned along the way.
Thanks for reading. We rely
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