Showing up is “all” the battle - Books by Eric Douglas

“Do not by any means destroy yourself, for if you live you may yet have good fortune, but all the dead are dead alike.”
~ The Horse and His Boy– C.S. Lewis

I spent this past weekend at the West Virginia Book Festival hawking my books and talking to browsers who walked through. I learn more about myself every time I talk to someone about my books, or answer a question about what would make my stories interesting for them. When I wasn’t talking to potential buyers, I spent a lot of time talking to some of the other authors who were at the show.

Afterward, I spent a lot of time thinking about perseverance and what it takes to “make it” as an author and a writer. Granted, part of that “thinking” time was on the patio with a glass of red wine, but it all counts. Oprah isn’t calling me, but I’ve finished four novels and co-authored a nonfiction book (along with a host of other things) so I have a clue or two on what it takes to finish a book. It probably sounds cliché, but the secret to finishing a book is showing up. Taking the time to write and actually writing.

A friend and fellow writer, Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher, interviewed me about writing and a new project called River Town for the BooksWide Open blog. She also writes her own blog called Esse Diem, that I highly recommend. In the interview, we talked about what it takes to be a writer. I said you need to own it. You need to shout from the roof tops that you are a writer. Don’t qualify it.

Just as importantly, you have to keep showing up, you have to keep smiling and you have to keep working it. Even when no one is coming to your table and no one seems interested in what you have to say. In the “life lessons” category, this is true about anything, but especially creative projects whether they be writing or painting or dancing or anything else.

As I was running these thoughts around in my mind, I stumbled across the quote at the top from CS Lewis. Destroying yourself can mean a lot of things, not just death. It can mean quitting, giving up or failing to try. It also means having the nerve to fail and to fail spectacularly.

As a writer I have been knocked down and pushed away and have received so many rejection letters I’ve lost count.

The information revolution has given every writer—every person who thinks they have something to say—a chance to say it. You don’t have to wait on someone to give you permission.

This weekend, I’m offering a class at the WVSU Economic Development Center/Digiso on Self Publishing. I’ll be mainly talking about how to publish book-length projects, but we’ll talk about blogs and social media as well. Those are tremendous ways to get your voice heard and build a following.

If you have something to say and are tired of waiting on someone to give you permission, join me Friday night to get started.