Commitment and the lazy river of desire
Plus how to get your non-fiction writing published
How committed are you?
Someone shared this quote from basketball coach Pat Riley with me last week, which I love:
“There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either in or out. There's no such thing as a life in between.”
Wanting something, is a desire.
Committing to it, requires sacrifice and persistence.
Either you’re committed to making something happen, hopefully with the highest level of excellence possible for you, or you’re just floating on the lazy river of desire.
Don’t get me wrong—I love my lazy rivers. But I don’t actually count on them to get me anywhere.
That’s why I love sprints. Because commitment is exhausting, LOL.
But after proving this to myself time and time again, I know I can do anything…for a short time.
So whether it’s a getting up at 5am every day for 3 months to finish your first draft, or even a single day fast (as I’m personally psyching myself up to do), believe that you can achieve your dreams, and commit to doing what it takes to make it happen.
Some hacks that have worked for me:
→ Creating a by-when (setting smaller deadlines, aka sprints, can help build the confidence and endurance you need to meet larger ones, for example setting daily word counts that make the overall manuscript goal more manageable)
→ Getting support & accountability (it’s way harder to sell yourself out and self-sabotage when you’ve got a support system cheering you on)
→ Being prepared (anyone who plays sports knows the value of this—mentally preparing for the task ahead, by visualizing the outcome that you want, and strategizing for the challenges you can expect to help you manoeuvre them, essentially planning for the best and the worst)
As I face my latest stretch, I know commitment isn’t the real problem: Belief that I can do it, is. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let self-doubt run my show. How about you?
#mindsetmatters #mindovermatter #tuesday motivation #goalgetter #passionproject
Q: How do I get my non-fiction writing published?
This is a big question, but in short, you have two routes you can go—traditional and self-publishing.
A) Traditional publishing (I’m going to include independent and small press here since for many of these you still need an agent)
Few publishers will accept unsolicited submissions, which means to pitch your book to most, you will need to go through a literary agent, which means pitching your book to agents first.
The big consideration here is time—since it will take time to pitch agents, to have your pitch read and responded to, and then when you’re finally picked up, for your agent to pitch your book to publishers. Then when you finally get that coveted book deal, you’re still looking at another 18 months or so until your book hits the shelves. So you’re basically looking at a 2 year lead time, in the best case scenario.
The benefits, though, of traditional publishing is having a team (agent, editor, publisher and marketing team) and resources behind you and your book. You also still have a shot at the NYT bestsellers list, if that’s a goal for you.
B) Self publishing (I’m going to include hybrids and third party options here, since in most cases they’re still classified as self publishing, even though they offer varying levels of support along the way)
Anybody can self-publish a book. Right now. For free.
So considerations for self-publishing centre around how good you want your book to be: Are you willing to invest in a professional editor to help make it better? A professional cover designer? A marketing team to help you with your book launch?
How much or how little you’re willing to invest may depend on what you want your book to achieve: Are you just happy to call yourself a published author? To share your story, with whomever stumbles across it?
Or do you care about the quality and are willing to invest time and money into revisions and editing and professional designers and marketing support, to make it stand out and to attract a certain audience or platforms?
While anyone can self-publish almost anything at any time, take a moment to consider the best approach and investment, now and in the long-term, for your book, and your brand.
PS: Ready to commit to your book? DM me and let’s talk.