Delusions of Granduer

Last month, I attended an annual writer’s conference to further learn the craft and potentially win an award. Each year, hundreds of aspiring authors gather at this mountainside resort for the conference. Most of us arrived with high hopes for a writing career.

• Becoming experts in the craft
• Acquiring an agent
• Meeting potential publishers

While having aspirations and being ambitious are great, we must also be realistic about how the industry works. Often writers arrive with many goals but not enough understanding or experience. This leads to disappointment.

There is a lot going on during a packed week of highs and lows: classes, networking, catching up with friends, and often interruptions by God all crammed into a daily schedule.

Multiply everything by a couple of hundred attendees and there will be some confusion and disappointment. Barney was wrong. Everyone isn’t a winner. He had delusions of grandeur!

Delusions of Grandeur

“No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.”

Christian Bovee

After my accident, I had a lot of delusions about my health and my recovery. I wanted to return to college to finish my English degree and write my first screenplay as soon as possible.

However, my reality was I had to relearn how to do basic functions of life just to live. It wasn’t until 20 years later that I learned my vision limitations made me legally blind. I was so focused on my goals and hopes, I lost touch with reality.

According to Web M.D., delusional disorder is a serious mental illness where a person can’t distinguish between what is real and what isn’t. Even people without a brain injury can have unreasonably high opinions of themselves.

Let me be clear there is nothing wrong with having hopes and dreams, just having an unhealthy view or need of them. Only by focusing too much on our hopes or goals, we can easily become delusional. Below are a few possible causes of delusions of grandeur:

1. Bipolar disorder
2. Schizophrenia
3. An imbalance of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters
4. Stress
5. Social isolation or lack of close relationships

A lot of aspiring writers suffer from delusions of grandeur about writing because they ignore the facts and statistics about writing careers and chances of success. Again, writing isn’t for the faint of heart. A great idea doesn’t guarantee publication. Talent only opens the door, but it doesn’t guarantee anything.

“Only the top 2% of writers make a good living and are successful. Most only make $1000 a year from writing.”

Publishing Perspectives

It can also take years for a new author to get a book published. Most writers know that writing isn’t for the faint of heart or cash-strapped dreamers. Eugene Peterson once said, “Writing is a vocation; it’s not just a way to get published.”

The truth is writers can end up with rejection from agents or publishers because the writing is one thing and publication is entirely something else! Author and speaker Bryant H. McGill once said, “Rejection is merely a redirection; a course correction to your destiny.”

Redirection

One of the common themes I hear repeated at writers’ conferences is, “A rejection is only a redirection.” When things don’t work out like we hope they will in our publication journey and we realize our delusions of grandeur aren’t true. It’s not the end of the world, but perhaps redirection.

When our hopes and plans don’t work out, we are to look at it as a redirection instead of a rejection. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been rejected by an agent I was hoping to impress and found myself sitting across the table from a different agent that was the better fit for me and my style of writing.

At a conference, writers try to choose the right agent, find a path to publication, and on occasion try to determine what kind of writer they are. Sometimes, dreams unravel. Broken dreams aren’t end of the writing journey, but could be a redirection.

It took less than a year after my accident for me to realize that going back to college wasn’t a possibility for me. And not just that, I couldn’t do any of the hobbies I once enjoyed. I needed to reassess and redirect my abilities. After grieving my losses, I learned to focus on my new abilities and new opportunities. I learned new hobbies and developed new passions.

• Biking
• Weight training
• Reading more
• Writing more
• Resting more

After spending most of my life trying to fit in with the crowd, I learned to accept that I am different, with different needs and goals. I no longer have to stress myself out by trying to keep up with the Jonese’s. I have surrendered my delusions of grandeur!

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJohnson.com  and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.