Well, I think you’re fabulous. Perhaps you need to swap out your audience? I mean, I get it, you love the prairie, the plains, I do, too, but (with all respect) I’m not sure your particular neighbors are going to appreciate your offerings. So you may have to go further afield…
You may find your win here with us on Substack, but regardless it’s a big world out there, and you’re obviously quite talented and productive (productive? You’re a woman afire).
My advice this evening is get out of the house, sit down at your favorite restaurant with an adult beverage and a book you’ve always loved. You don’t have to read it, but it will remind you of you, the you that you fear you’re losing, to burnout, exhaustion.
In coming days you might try gently revisiting the things that used to jazz you. You like road trips (as I do) it seems, so in the morning maybe meander down to Akaska or up to Anamoose. You need a change of scene.
Obviously if someone famous with a following showcased your work, people might be beating down your door. That has its own problems, though, not only do you have to fulfill a ton of orders, you’re also somewhat typecast as that lady who does X when you really might want to shed that skin to do Y, something daring and experimental.
Everything has its pluses and minuses. You’re looking for the sweet spot if you can find it.
I need to do my laundry so I will leave you with the famous Zen story:
Update: having now heard your first…audio journal…with your distaste for alcohol, I withdraw the suggestion about the adult beverage. The rest stands 🤓
I just listened to your number 9 podblast, on this same theme, living a small life, needing a win.
I’d of course want to pray and work, do what I can to get you as many wins as possible.
But I’d also suggest some recalibration might be in order. No, you shouldn’t scale down your dreams. I, too, want to do something “big,” something even perhaps of world-historical importance, if God wills.
Rather I’d argue for some real reassessment of where you are, what you’ve got going.
I see college followed by your building a whole personal brand, with paintings and other art projects, note cards, websites, blogs, podcasts, freelance writing on top of authoring your own books, and much more. You may wish you’d gotten more traction on the culture, a warmer reception from the world, and that’s perfectly fine.
But this is a real success, and not some “failure to launch.”
I do sympathize with you about the apparent mismatch between your hopes and your sales figures. 30 years ago this summer I created a magazine for which I wrote and took photographs, did the layout but sold one (1) copy.
But Jesus, our Jesus, said to stop looking at appearances and make a right judgment. I’m not claiming the theological chops to accurately apply it to either of our lives, but the Lord does distinguish between these two things, the outward appearances and a proper evaluation of a situation.
Remember the widow’s mite?
Also, in your podtalk you mention what hit you like the proverbial 2,000 lbs of masonry on a cold windy afternoon was the juxtaposition of your one sale of one book and the fact of meteoric sales of another work you’d ghostwritten for a client. We’re both agreed that worldly success, the subject of your client’s book, is not the summum bonum, the highest good, yet you do allow that you generally want people (thus the readers of this book) to succeed in life and not fail.
This suggests that somehow you might want to bend your brain around the concept that the success of your client’s book is your success, even without your name on it.
You (and I as well) want to be useful, some benefit to our neighbors whom we are to “love,” within or without the sheepfold.
And here we see you having been useful, you moved the needle, you made a real positive difference in people’s lives 😊
I must admit that your description of what I have been living in the Lord since 1971 was a comfort. It turned out that my creative career was the avenue the Lord used to kill my focus on self. The result? I've never been closer to Him and that is amazing. Now that I have finally gotten to where I can actually truly say, "Use me however you can, Lord." He is finally able to anoint some of the stuff I produce and let me see some positive reactions. Truly amazing. Only took 54 years or so. I'm pretty thick-headed.
Well, I think you’re fabulous. Perhaps you need to swap out your audience? I mean, I get it, you love the prairie, the plains, I do, too, but (with all respect) I’m not sure your particular neighbors are going to appreciate your offerings. So you may have to go further afield…
You may find your win here with us on Substack, but regardless it’s a big world out there, and you’re obviously quite talented and productive (productive? You’re a woman afire).
My advice this evening is get out of the house, sit down at your favorite restaurant with an adult beverage and a book you’ve always loved. You don’t have to read it, but it will remind you of you, the you that you fear you’re losing, to burnout, exhaustion.
In coming days you might try gently revisiting the things that used to jazz you. You like road trips (as I do) it seems, so in the morning maybe meander down to Akaska or up to Anamoose. You need a change of scene.
Obviously if someone famous with a following showcased your work, people might be beating down your door. That has its own problems, though, not only do you have to fulfill a ton of orders, you’re also somewhat typecast as that lady who does X when you really might want to shed that skin to do Y, something daring and experimental.
Everything has its pluses and minuses. You’re looking for the sweet spot if you can find it.
I need to do my laundry so I will leave you with the famous Zen story:
https://mindfulness.com/mindful-living/are-these-bad-times-or-good-times-the-story-of-the-zen-farmer
Update: having now heard your first…audio journal…with your distaste for alcohol, I withdraw the suggestion about the adult beverage. The rest stands 🤓
I just listened to your number 9 podblast, on this same theme, living a small life, needing a win.
I’d of course want to pray and work, do what I can to get you as many wins as possible.
But I’d also suggest some recalibration might be in order. No, you shouldn’t scale down your dreams. I, too, want to do something “big,” something even perhaps of world-historical importance, if God wills.
Rather I’d argue for some real reassessment of where you are, what you’ve got going.
I see college followed by your building a whole personal brand, with paintings and other art projects, note cards, websites, blogs, podcasts, freelance writing on top of authoring your own books, and much more. You may wish you’d gotten more traction on the culture, a warmer reception from the world, and that’s perfectly fine.
But this is a real success, and not some “failure to launch.”
I do sympathize with you about the apparent mismatch between your hopes and your sales figures. 30 years ago this summer I created a magazine for which I wrote and took photographs, did the layout but sold one (1) copy.
But Jesus, our Jesus, said to stop looking at appearances and make a right judgment. I’m not claiming the theological chops to accurately apply it to either of our lives, but the Lord does distinguish between these two things, the outward appearances and a proper evaluation of a situation.
Remember the widow’s mite?
Also, in your podtalk you mention what hit you like the proverbial 2,000 lbs of masonry on a cold windy afternoon was the juxtaposition of your one sale of one book and the fact of meteoric sales of another work you’d ghostwritten for a client. We’re both agreed that worldly success, the subject of your client’s book, is not the summum bonum, the highest good, yet you do allow that you generally want people (thus the readers of this book) to succeed in life and not fail.
This suggests that somehow you might want to bend your brain around the concept that the success of your client’s book is your success, even without your name on it.
You (and I as well) want to be useful, some benefit to our neighbors whom we are to “love,” within or without the sheepfold.
And here we see you having been useful, you moved the needle, you made a real positive difference in people’s lives 😊
More later, I need to get back to work
I must admit that your description of what I have been living in the Lord since 1971 was a comfort. It turned out that my creative career was the avenue the Lord used to kill my focus on self. The result? I've never been closer to Him and that is amazing. Now that I have finally gotten to where I can actually truly say, "Use me however you can, Lord." He is finally able to anoint some of the stuff I produce and let me see some positive reactions. Truly amazing. Only took 54 years or so. I'm pretty thick-headed.