image: header
image: gownflare

Friday, July 08, 2011

Welcome Lillian Duncan and Failure

Please interact with our guest authors by answering the question they provide. IF there is a book giveaway, your response will also enter you in the drawing for a free book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Stories of faith, hope, and love mingled with murder and mayhem.

LILLIAN DUNCAN lives in a small town in the middle of Ohio Amish country with her husband. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology and a Master's degree from Kent State in Deaf Education.

Lillian believes books can be entertaining without being trashy. She writes the types of books she loves to read, suspense with a touch of romance. Along with writing novels, she writes devotions for ChristianDevotions.us.

PURSUED
by Lillian Duncan
Published by White Rose Publishing

ABOUT THE BOOK

Reggie Meyers has spent her life pursing the American Dream, but now she’s the one being pursued— by an unknown killer. Putting her trust in Dylan Monroe, a man she barely knows, will either be the best decision she ever made or the last.

Reggie’s a big city lawyer and Dylan’s a country farmer. In the normal course of events, their lives would never intersect but some accidents just aren't meant to be avoided. When Reggie crashes into Dylan, it makes a bad day even worse or so she thinks. Dylan, on the other hand, is intrigued by the feisty lady lawyer and wrangles a way to spend a bit more time with her by offering to drive her home after the accident. And so the journey that will change both their lives begins…

Readers, buy your copy of Pursued today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

I’M A FAILURE!

Yikes! I received an email reminder today from Tiff about this blog which is due tomorrow. Uh...the blog I hadn’t written yet. So what’s a writer to do?

Sit down and write, of course.

When I started writing sixteen years ago, it was because I loved books and I loved to read. Somewhere along the way, the reason changed. Now, I do it for the love of writing. It’s an amazing thing to see an idea go from one sentence to one paragraph to a seventy or eighty thousand word story.

Today, I thought I’d talk about FAILURE. That’s right, failure. If you’re going to become serious about writing, then you must accept the reality of failure. It can come in many different forms and they all hurt.

One type is failure to thrive. Not every idea is a good idea. I have tons of stories that I may have written partially but somewhere along the way, the story just wasn’t thriving. The original idea wasn’t strong enough to bring the story to completion. So what to do? Accept it and move on!

Another type is the failure of others to recognize how wonderful your story is. You’ve written it, edited it, revised it again and again, and polished it some more. But each proposal comes back with a big red NO written on it. What to do? This one’s a little more tricky. There are several options. Go back and rework the story if you want and send it out—again! Or it might be time to put it away and start a new story.

A writer may live in the land of rejections for many years. Rejections are a fact of live when you are a writer. When this happens, you can quit or Accept it and move on!

Now, your baby’s been published. You have it in your hot little hands. It’s so beautiful but...no one else seems to care quite as much as you do. Friends and family are excited but not excited enough to buy a copy, though they’d love to have you give them one.

This one can be particularly painful for us sensitive, artistic types. It’s hard to imagine that others just don’t get it. But it’s a fact. What to do? Accept it and move on!

Now, comes the dreaded review. You know the one. The one that tells you that your writing is so bad, you shouldn’t even write a grocery list again. I can’t say I’ve had this experience yet and I hope I never do. But what am I going to do if it happens? Accept it and move on, of course!

The life of a writer can be painful. Most writers’ journeys are filled with self-doubt, criticisms from others, and rejections from agents and editors.

Ah, but the joy of finishing a story (whether it gets published or not) can’t be beat. The thrill of looking at a paragraph you created as you wonder where those words came from and how you managed to put them in the perfect order. Then, there are the more tangible successes, getting an agent, your first contract, your first book, and your first royalty check!

So, my advice to new and/or unpublished writers is to toughen up. There’s plenty of failures in your future but there are also plenty of successes out there waiting for you as well.

As long as you accept the failures as part of the process and keep on writing.

* * * * *

Thank you, Lillian, for sharing with us today.

Guest Question: In or of what is your greatest fear of failure?

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name at domainname dot com/net) along with your answer to the question for your chance to win a FREE digital copy of the book above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the contest is open to US/Canada residents only.

6 comments:

Kacie said...

My biggest fear is failure! Hah! I don't know why though. Every time it seems I've failed in the past things still work out, usually for the better. I still let fear of failure keep me from doing to many things though.
This book sounds awesome. Thanks so much for the post and I'd love to read it.

kdwoodmansee(at)gmail(dot)com

Jan Drexler said...

Other than nasty, hairy, scuttling bugs (I keep moving north to escape them - I think I'm safe now...), my biggest fear is stepping out into the big cruel world with my manuscript.

It's one thing to sit by myself at my computer and spin this make believe world, but quite another to put it out there for others to see. I've entered a couple contests, and that has helped!

Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of the book!

jandrex(at)juno(dot)com

Tom Blubaugh said...

Excellent interview and article.

Tom Blubaugh
Night of the Cossack

Edwina said...

My biggest fear is the fear of rejection.

edwina(dot)cowgill(at)yahoo(dot)com

Lillian Duncan said...

Fear is normal. As writers, we expose ourselves to the world. And that's a scary thing. The key is to not let our fear stop us from reaching our dreams!

rbooth43 said...

My fear of failure is that I would loose the respect of my family and friends.
Thanks!
Rebecca
rbooth43(at)yahoo(dot)com