No Limits! Is This Your Year?

Image credit: Fotolia/ © chrisdorney

The Year of No Limits – What does it mean for you?

Missy Tippens

Happy new year, everyone! On my first post of the year, I  wanted to weigh in on our YEAR OF NO LIMITS in Seekerville. When Tina Radcliffe first mentioned this theme, my brain started clicking on what it would mean for me.

I want you to do the same!

What does No Limits mean for YOU? I think this is going to end up being varied and might be very personal for some of you. So today, I’m going to challenge you to think about how you can make this an amazing year.

Some questions to ask yourself…

--When you’re scared or feeling unsure, what/whose voice do you hear in your head? What is it telling you? Do you have someone in your family telling you you’ll fail? Or maybe someone in your past telling you you’re being ridiculous? Or do you have someone actually saying you can do this, but you don’t believe it? Or maybe you’re hearing your own voice.

--What type things limit you? Personal, career, spiritual, emotional, craft, health (physical and/or mental)?

--In what area do you feel most insecure or incapable? Your writing? The day job? Spiritual things? Parenting? Being a spouse/friend/significant other? Handling social media? Promotion? Meeting deadlines? Being organized? Staying present in your “real” life outside writing?

Photo Credit: Crestock/creatista

--Where do you feel weakest in your writing--commitment, drive, energy, creativity, ability, follow-through, establishing habits…?

--Do you dream big enough? Have you put yourself in a box?

So many questions to ask! So many areas to look into. But once you’ve figured out what limits you, I encourage you to come up with a plan to battle that.

 Come up with a plan...

Negative voices? Block them out! Practice positive thoughts. Replace the old ones with new, encouraging voices. We’d love to help do that here on the blog!

Self-doubt over your writing ability? Study in the areas in which you’re weakest. Study your favorite authors and figure out what they do. Also, write, write, write. Practice will make you better.

Photo Credit: Crestock/ kentoh

Personal or emotional or relationship problems limiting you? Get help. Since this can be so varied, I won’t even attempt to offer advice. But if life and relationships are tough, seek the help of a trusted friend, pastor or counselor (whatever is appropriate for the situation). And treat yourself with compassion. I just read an article about how people who give themselves a break, rather than trying to build themselves up after failure, often end up being more successful (my paraphrase). (Click here if you’re interested in the article.)

Health problems limiting you? See your doctor. Vow to eat healthfully and get as fit as you can in your situation. Again, I can’t offer specific advice since I’m not a healthcare professional. But I believe there is hope in all situations.

Is lack of confidence your problem? I can attest that you can work to move past this! Write lots. Get feedback from trusted critique partners or contests or editors. Work to improve. Send your work out there into the world (scary, I know). Then let it go. (If you’re now hearing refrains from a certain princess, it was unintentional!) :) At some point, you have to take a little risk. It’s nerve-wracking, but it will help build confidence, step by step. (For those who are newbies who haven’t yet taken the first step of sharing your work, please see my giveaway at the end of my post!)

Photo Credit: Crestock/ donskarpo

Does negativity cause setbacks? How about bad reviews or contest feedback? Again, you have to tell yourself (maybe over and over, especially if you’re a people-pleaser like I am) that not all people are going to like your writing. Accept that fact right now. It’ll make your life a lot easier!

If you write Christian fiction, do you feel you’re not qualified to write it? I thought that in the beginning. Then I took a Bible study where I studied Moses. (If this is you, go read Exodus right now.) It changed my outlook and made me push through that roadblock.

Do you suffer from a lack of commitment and drive? Then set some goals for yourself. Be realistic but challenge yourself! I imagine you can be a lot more productive than you think you can. Some examples of goals… Get up x-number of minutes earlier each day. Write x-number of words a day. Enter one contest. Send out one proposal. Find a critique partner. Release one indie short story/novella/novel. Take one online course. Read x-number of books in your genre. If you’re paralyzed because you’re feeling overwhelmed, then take just ONE step toward reaching one goal. Check one thing, any thing, off your to-do list. Every step will help motivate you.

Oh! And get this… I just read an article on the Psychology Today website (click here but come back) about how one small victory can flood your brain with a feel-good brain chemical (dopamine) that has been linked to motivation. So set yourself up to achieve (one small victory following another)!

Have you realized you don’t dream big enough? This is where this year’s theme hit me in the gut. I realized I don’t dream big enough, and thus don’t achieve all I can. So I’m going to do my normal goal setting. But then I’m going to add some stretch goals. I’m going to push myself and dare to strive to do more. And most of all, I want to remember Who’s in charge. To remember that God has a good plan for me. For me. Wow. I need to be more confident in that and let Him guide me.

And now, before we jump in with comments, I asked the Seeker ladies what No Limits meant for them. I’d like to share a quote from Audra Harders…

“No Limits gives me permission to stop holding back, to trust my gut instinct. If I'm writing the book of my heart, it's all emotion and feeling, and the end product is completely sigh-worthy.”

 And from Ruth Logan Herne…

“I can't believe people intentionally put limits on themselves in the first place! What are they thinking??? Be that baby who takes off running, refusing to crawl because the view is so much better with your head held high!”

I love that. We should all take Ruthy’s attitude!

What about you? How are you going to make 2015 YOUR YEAR???? What does No Limits mean to you?

Please share with us! We’d love to cheer you on.

GIVEAWAY: For any newbies who haven’t braved showing your work to anyone (other than family or best friends--nope, they don't count!), I’d like to offer to read the first five pages of your story for a critique (very gentle, I promise). I’ll draw three names. Please comment and let me know you’d like to be entered! We’d really, really (pretty please) love to have you comment, but if anyone is too shy to ask, please email me at missytippens [@] aol.com to enter. (Put Seekers in the subject line.)

www.missytippens.com

Seekerville is Closed for the New Year Holiday

Seekerville is closed for the New Year Holiday!

We're excited about all we have in store for 2015. You can check out our January 2015 calendar here.. See you on Friday!

Taking Baby Steps to Win The Race

New Year's Revolutions are nice...
but stickin' with them is a whole 'nother story!

Raise your hand...how many of you made New Year's Revolutions this year? Yes, yes, I call them Revolutions because:

Revolutions offer power.
Revolutions create change.
Revolutions unseat the unsavory.

And it all starts one step at a time.

I know the feeling. Once you've decided to do something, you want to jump in with both feet. Get right on it. See results. Right?

Wrong. FIRST, we've got to develop a plan or after a week of exuberance, all that high-octane energy is going to burn off and you'll be left with nothing but the fumes.

Think about it. You want to get in physical shape, a very common New Year's Revolution. There are many options open to you:

Diet. You've decided 10 pounds have got to go. So you've heard the new "red beet and soda water" diet melts away the pounds without any effort. After one day - maybe two - of eating nothing but beets and washing it down with water, you scrunch your nose at the nonsense and run to the nearest Cold Stone for a double scoop of chocolate fudge ice cream and chow down instant comfort. Where did the enthusiasm for instant slimming beauty get you? Probably an extra 2 pounds before your taste buds forgave you.

Better idea. FIRST, instead of overdosing on grapefruits, or floating away on Slim-Fast, why not try a sensible eating regime that not only cares for your health, but you might also find sustainable with minimum effort. Personally, I'm partial to Weight Watchers (I just re-upped my commitment), but there are many other excellent plans available that will help you reach any goal you set. You will have learned sound eating habits and developed a cooking routine that will keep you in that size-whatever, along with a huge smile on your face.

Exercise. You've had enough couch-potatoing over the holidays. It's January 1 and you've decide it's time to get up and move. You slap on your sneakers, fill a water bottle, grab your iPod and out the door you run. Five miles later, you crawl back into the house, exhausted, dehydrated, and pooped, but you finished the course. The next day, you can barely get out of bed, much less do any sneaker slapping and revisit that five miles again. Muscles sore, knees aching and heart rate jitterbugging like a 60's dancer, you've just set yourself back further on the workout chart than you started. Definitely not a pretty picture.

Better idea. FIRST, learn warm up exercises to stretch and condition those underused muscles before you sprint off down the road. Maybe consider jogging around the block for a couple of sessions and slowly expanding your distance each day or two. How about researching your options and mixing it up? Jogging 3 times a week, weight training once a week, aerobics squeezed in as able. Match your strengths and your weaknesses with a balanced program and soon you'll be in the rhythm that just comes naturally.

Okay, now that we've explored the obvious New Year's Revolutions, let's explore the Writers' Revolutions.

Niche. Can you believe all the hype over vampire novels? Oh my goodness, they're selling like wax teeth at a Halloween store. So, you're about 40,000 words into a delightful Amish - western - timetravel you're targeting for ABC Publishers...the SAME publishers contracting the hot vampire thing!! Your blood starts pumping and pulse racing. You don't want to miss this opportunity to get your book in front of an editor while the genre is hot. Your mind starts spinning. How about exchanging vampires for the H/H, relocating it to a quiet east coast town and dropping in a couple of aliens for conflict? How hard can that be? All the rest of the book can remain the same, right? You start tweaking, revising, changing, massaging what was once a perfectly good Amish-western-timetravel and what do you have to show for it? Tears, crumpled paper, a melted hard drive and frustration beyond measure.

Better idea. FIRST, never chase after markets unless you have the voice and love for it. Readers can tell. Take a deep breath. All popular genres are cyclical. If you have a love for Back To The Future Amish Style, then that's what you need to write. Write it well. Write it carefully. Write what's on your heart, not the plot-of-the-week. As you follow your heart and your voice, you'll develope style and your brand. Your heart will be your book.

Speed. Book in a Week (BIAW). National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). One thousand words in one hour (1K1HR). Can you image how many books you could pump out if you scramble all the techniques together? With the excitement generated by the New Year high of get'er done, we gobble up every opportunity to rack up those words and fill those pages. 10-20-30K in a week....and then our minds - and harddrives - explode.

Ewwww.

Better idea. FIRST consider what each of the above challenges means to your writing. All three incentives are excellent in themselves. They are tools to help you succeed, but like every practical tool, they have a specific function to serve in order to be useful. How do you prepare to write? Think about the time you have and how your mind works and pursue the most sustainable course.

Do you like mapping out your book from beginning to end, defining your major plot points, crafting your black moment until you see HEA in sight? Then consider preparing for NaNoWriMo. You'll have the skeleton of a well thought out book in front of you and NaNo encourages a goal of 50K in a month-just enough to reward you with a nice rough draft.

Do you need to snatch time where you can find it? Check out the 1K1HR on Facebook. Spur of the moment writing...1000 words in one hour. Great for getting your creative juices flowing and immersing in your work. And I'm sensing there's a whole lot of fun going on, too : )

Want something inbetween? Book In A Week is just long enough to help you focus your efforts to write over any hump you might be stuck on.

I could go on and on, but really, you get the picture, right?

The new year brings us endless possibilities to fulfill our dreams. God planted the seed of desire to write in us while we were still in the womb, is there any doubt we will be successful? NO. But we do need to be wise in our choices, both for our physical well-being and our creative.

Frustration leads to dead ends. Don't overwhelm yourself. Set a course and stick to it. First things first.

This is a new year...make it work for you!!

Share an over-exhuberant moment with us and then tell us how you might have prepared for it FIRST to be included in a drawing for a surprise package announced in the Weekend Edition. It can be writing related or just a fluke of life. Let's have some fun!

2011: Making the Most of What's Left of the Year

Good Morning, Seekerville! It had been my original intent to post this week on getting your writing organized for 2012. But with a December book deadline (it was sent Priority mail to my editor on Saturday morning, December 24) and then taking a few rare and precious days away from my computer and the “Infamous To Do List” to spend time with family and enjoy this special season, researching a blog wasn’t high on my list of priorities.
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Besides, here we are halfway between Christmas 2011 and New Year’s Day 2012 --not much time left to get organized the way I dream of getting organized to start a new year. The majority of my time this week is already spoken for with additional deadlines for my publisher, judging a writing contest, and seeing to a ton of other writing-related endeavors--not to mention the 1,001 things that didn’t get done in the past month that still need to be done!
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It’s going to be a jam-packed remainder of the week and just thinking about it is overwhelming, but instead of letting that zap my energy as a new year rapidly approaches, I intend to live the next few days intentionally.
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What will that entail? I’m focusing on the “must do’s” but also blocking out time to weave in a few things that will ground me and ENERGIZE me going into the coming year.
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These things will be very different for each of us. But for me the plan includes…
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…walking daily--with a cup of hot cocoa topped with whipped cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon to warm me up on my return.
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…setting aside time to read a chapter or two from a good book (maybe with that cup of hot cocoa for company!) .
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…writing a few New Year’s letters to friends and family each day (there wasn’t time to compose a Christmas letter this year).
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…pausing to dream up my next books--characters, premises, scenes.
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…celebrating all the things I DID accomplish this year.
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…spending quiet times with God to seek direction for 2012.
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So, instead of getting bummed out here at the end of the year about all the things you HAVEN’T had time to do in 2011 and WON’T have time to do before ushering in 2012, what are YOU going to do to energize yourself in the remaining days of December? What are some small things you can do to give yourself an added boost and start your new year off on solid footing and with a positive attitude?
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If you’d like to be entered in a drawing for a copy of “Break Into Fiction” by Mary Buckham and Dianna Love, please mention it in the comments section and leave your e-mail addy (remembering “at” and “dot”). Then watch our Weekend Edition for the winner!
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Glynna
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Glynna Kaye’s Love Inspired “Dreaming of Home” was a 2010 finalist in the “Carol Award” and “Maggie Award,” as well as a first place winner of the 2010 “Booksellers Best” and “Beacon” awards. Her most recent release “At Home In His Heart” (August 2011) garnered a 4 ½ star review from national magazine “RT Book Reviews and is a nominee for RT’s Reviewers’ Choice Award.” “High Country Hearts,” Glynna’s fourth story set in the mountain country of Canyon Springs, Arizona, debuts in March 2012.