Jessica Everingham Jessica Everingham is a youth leader, boarding school mistress, journalist, blogger and aspiring author. She loves to write articles and novels that peel back our subconscious attitudes and reveal God’s truth. Visit her blog, Consumed By Him, at www.consumedbyhimblog.wordpress.com or connect via social media through Facebook (www.facebook.com/jessicaeveringhamwriting) or Twitter (@JessEveringham).
Are You Ready?
Are you ready to be published? All of us aspiring authors leap to our feet and scream ‘YES!’ We are so ready. We’ve been writing till our fingers bleed, improving our craft, learning how to market and stalking agents. We’ve paid our dues. We can’t wait to get to the next level; leave behind all the insecurities of being unpublished, the crazy self-imposed deadlines and the stress of self-doubt. We can’t wait to finally be called ‘an author’. But a few days ago, something clicked in my brain. Am I really ready to be published? Can I handle writing to an editor’s deadline, not my own? Can I cope with the uncertainty of book sales; the stress that I won’t ‘succeed’ and make money? What if I get published, go around calling myself an author and then fail to sell another book? My current problems of writing goals, blog statistics and identity look pretty easy compared to that. The truth is, the intensity of everything changes when you make that jump from amateur to pro. And it’s not for the faint-hearted. When I get published, I’m going to have to trust God in a whole new way. I’ll need Him to help me cope with the pressure of getting everything written on time. I’ll need to trust Him with my finances. I’ll need to remember that success is found in loving and obeying God, not selling billions of books. And I must keep my identity in Him alone—because nothing in this world, and especially the publishing industry, is certain. In the meantime, I’m going to prepare. I’m asking God to help me trust, to defeat anxiety and be confident of who I am in Him. This pre-published time is not something to be rushed or despised; this is the training ground for the big leagues. Are you ready?
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Jessica, this is a very insightful post, and I wish more aspiring authors would come to the same realization. As an associate editor for a publisher, I encountered many manuscripts — and writers — that were not ready for publication. Not only was the material too rough to be published, the writers’ hearts and minds were not prepared for the next part of the journey. They had a contract. They were “real writers” now. How dare I suggest their stories needed more polishing? Pride and naivete became obstacles to excellence.
Just because I’m an editor by no means implies I’m a perfect writer. In fact, my novel just received editorial suggestions that made me stumble backward a couple steps. But, if God is to be honored, I will have to humble myself and do the work.
You made some great points, Penworthy Press. I have been published, and I’ve found that that’s when the work really begins.