Tag: Is it too late

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Is It Too Late?

Finish Strong

 As we near the end of the year, my thoughts turn to finishing the year strong. Where can I still push forward? What can I do during the holidays to promote or grow my social media? It’s a busy time with family and friends, yet we can still advance our goals. This year isn’t complete yet.

If you haven’t set goals for your author journey, now is a great time to get some going.

If you don’t set writing goals, it will be hard to know when you reach a milestone. You can’t wake up one morning with a finished manuscript. It begins with small steps that lead to more steps that continue until you have a rough draft that might look like a story.

Success as an author is one step after another that never really stops!

God leads you to more when you’ve accomplished the small steps in front of you.

Pray for God to show you what you can do and how to get there. It takes faith and perseverance. You can do it!

One of my goals for the rest of this year is doubling down on my social media posts. Another goal on every notepad, digital reminder, and planner remains to write daily on my work in progress. It’s been in a rough draft for over two years. It’s a mess, but it won’t be by January.

Guess what I’ll be doing in January?

Creating a goal sheet. I think you get the idea. Set some goals. You’ll be happy to have them. You can start strong and finish strong!

Jill Chapman resides in Southern Indiana with her husband of forty-four years. They enjoy their country lifestyle and visiting with their children and grandchildren. Her life centers around her family and her yellow lab, Indy. She is an avid movie watcher, loves Mexican food, and enjoys watercolor painting. Jill says her life is like a good plate of nachos, a tiny kick of spice, and a whole lotta cheese.

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Is It Too Late?

Hold Your Place

Recently, I had to pause several of my plans to help family. I got behind in my writing goals for the year. I kept doing basic social media posts, but that’s about it. My writing slowed and then stopped as I struggled to stay afloat. One morning, as I looked over my blank planning calendar, I felt a tremendous sense of discouragement.

What happened? How could I have messed up so spectacularly?

I filled in what I had done the weeks before. Doctor visits, babysitting, family obligations, and church. Had I failed? God called me to write, but He also calls me to care for my family. To reach out to people around me with love. While I filled in my planner, I prayed for God to show me where I could fit writing into my schedule again. I may not have moved forward with my goals for the year, I certainly hadn’t failed.

I’d held my place.

I hadn’t given up on my goals, only paused. A bookmark, if you will, in life. Holding my place until I can get back at it.

To set a goal is good, to meet the goal is great, to lose sight of the goal or miss it, is human.

If your goals seem like a distant memory or they are fading into the background, don’t give up on them. Remind yourself that you’re human and sometimes life calls us in a different direction for a bit. Just like a good book with a bookmark where you left off, your writing will wait for you while you hold your place.

Jill Chapman resides in Southern Indiana with her husband of forty-four years. They enjoy their country lifestyle and visiting with their children and grandchildren. Her life centers around her family and her yellow lab, Indy. She is an avid movie watcher, loves Mexican food, and enjoys watercolor painting. Jill says her life is like a good plate of nachos, a tiny kick of spice, and a whole lotta cheese.

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Is It Too Late?

Do You FAce Writer’s Slam?

When a restaurant has too many people show up at one time to eat, they say they’re getting slammed. Writers experience getting slammed too. What is involved in a writer’s slam?

When I sought publication in 2019, I found out that a good or even great manuscript was only the beginning. A writer must be prepared to sell themselves, as well as the story. Most agents and editors look for an online presence, an ability to draw an audience through your newsletter, your ability to write a synopsis, do an elevator pitch, and write an outline of your story.

Another way a writer receives a slam involves critiques.

You must learn to take critiques with a thick-skinned attitude. Most people loved the concept of my first book, but no one liked the opening lines. (And I mean no one.) I rewrote the first paragraph of that book at least twenty times. I’m talking about the arrangement of a few sentences with changes in wording several times! After a while, it had me questioning my ability to write anything at all. Through lots of encouragement and mentoring, I could look beyond the criticism and see the goal. A well written opening scene to an exciting story.

You’re probably thinking, “How do I survive the slam?”

The first step to survival remains having a positive attitude.

This holds true in many areas of life. Look forward to each day as an opportunity to learn what comes next in the journey. Pray for guidance and patience. Realize there will be setbacks and let downs. Keep moving forward. Try again.

The second step involves finding a group of people who are like-minded and have the same goals as you do.

There are many ways to accomplish this. Facebook groups, websites, podcasts, and local writers. I began a group at my local library for writers. We’ve become a tight-knit group of encouragers. Take notes, make lists of contests, follow other writers and authors on social media, read books to learn better ways to write, and remember that it’s a journey.

The last step involves goal setting.

Take a day or two and set goals for yourself. Short term and long-term benchmarks help keep your focus. Create a vision board and hang it up in your work space. Some days, you may feel discouraged. The goals and the vision board will keep you on track. They also serve the purpose of showing how far you’ve come. You can’t do everything right away, but you can work toward the endgame of publication.

If the pressure of the writer’s slam pushes on you today, don’t despair. Keep moving, praying, and most of all, keep writing! You’ll make it through.

Jill Chapman resides in Southern Indiana with her husband of forty-four years. They enjoy their country lifestyle and visiting with their children and grandchildren. Her life centers around her family and her yellow lab, Indy. She is an avid movie watcher, loves Mexican food, and enjoys watercolor painting. Jill says her life is like a good plate of nachos, a tiny kick of spice, and a whole lotta cheese.

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Is It Too Late?

A Love-Hate Relationship

Pssst! I have a love-hate relationship going on.

Relationships can be tricky, and this one is one of my worst. I try to make it work, yet the other participant doesn’t always work well with my efforts. Have you ever had a relationship like this? The frustration! The irritation! Since I’m married, you might think I’m speaking about my husband, but no. It’s not him. That’s another article entirely.

What is causing me this trouble?

It’s technology! As someone of seasoned age, I haven’t been raised with technology like younger people. When I began my journey toward publication, I didn’t know how to use social media or have a website. It took several months to build my knowledge base to get things up and running.

Gone are the days of sending in a manuscript written in cursive through the post office. We must jump into the technology age and use all these things to help us succeed. Social media, websites, and editor submissions all require technology. We’ve mastered many difficult things in our lives, and we can do this!

Some great ways to learn include using Google, YouTube, writers’ groups online, and family members under the age of twenty or so. Many local libraries offer classes on computers. Don’t be afraid to ask them if they offer courses for your specific need when using technology.

Your ideas deserve to be out there.

Don’t let fear of technology keep you from moving forward in your efforts to become a successful author.

Jill Chapman resides in Southern Indiana with her husband of forty-four years. They enjoy their country lifestyle and visiting with their children and grandchildren. Her life centers around her family and her yellow lab, Indy. She is an avid movie watcher, loves Mexican food, and enjoys watercolor painting. Jill says her life is like a good plate of nachos, a tiny kick of spice, and a whole lotta cheese.

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Is It Too Late?

You’re Not Late

Do you hate being late?

The feeling of missing out on the first of a dinner can be frustrating. All the good seats are taken, and you have to play catch up with the conversation. This is how I felt when I began writing at sixty. I worried about everything because there was so much to learn. Doubt flooded in when I saw all the other writers out there. Would anyone even care about what I had to say?

Do you feel this way as an older writer?

The seats may seem taken, but you have room at the table. No matter your age, some people need your voice in the mix. You bring a perspective that younger writers may still need to acquire. Fiction and nonfiction alike will benefit from your wisdom and viewpoint.

Life has been a training ground to prepare you for this stage in your journey.

Bitter disappointments can lead to life lessons for your characters in works of fiction. In nonfiction, these pieces of overcoming can lead the way for those coming along behind you. You’ve seen some stuff, and this stuff will broaden your work. It will give it depth and bring a rich voice to the writing world.

Meanwhile, the joys you’ve experienced also bring with them a path for others to follow. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, your life’s journey has brought you to this point to share your knowledge, wisdom, wit, and adventure.

There are challenges to overcome in beginning the journey to write at this time in your life.

Learning new things can seem overwhelming. Agents, editors, marketing skills, and the list goes on! Remember, God has brought you to this point and won’t let you down now. Since he called you to write, he’ll make way for you. There will be an answer to every challenge, so with prayer and patience, you can do it. 

Jill Chapman resides in Southern Indiana with her husband of forty-four years. They enjoy their country lifestyle and visiting with their children and grandchildren. Her life centers around her family and her yellow lab, Indy. She is an avid movie watcher, loves Mexican food, and enjoys watercolor painting. Jill says her life is like a good plate of nachos, a tiny kick of spice, and a whole lotta cheese.