A Willingness To Try New Things - Change Is Good!

I had to share this. I received an email from one of my amazing authors.

Just an FYI to let you know I’ve finally gone “to the other side”. 

Here’s why: 

The story crapped out at about 15,000 words, and I’ve been freaked I couldn’t write any more or get it back on track, that maybe it was too complicated - too politically hot - too … After a trip to the library and a video on the border patrol - yep one exists, video that is,  and no I haven’t watched it - I finally realized I was over thinking the whole thing. 

Problem - No direction because I was writing from the blurb only, reverting back to my old ways.   I’m writing a synopsis now, and I can feel it coming together. I never thought I'd say this but I'm seriously considering an outline.

This is why I love the Greyhaus authors. When each of them hits a roadblock with their writing, they problem-solve their way out of it and, often it requires making a change to what they have gotten

used to in the past.

I think that too often, human beings get into a rut. We live our lives with blinders on and cannot see anything beyond the path we have always traveled. Of course, when we do this, we often find ourselves running into brick walls and crashing. Sometimes this collision causes us to completely quit what we were doing.

I have seen a lot of writers come and go since I opened up the agency in 2003. Many of these writers disappeared because they ran into that brick wall and chose not to make a change to what they were doing. They found themselves staring at a blank computer screen for hours and not getting anything done. They found themselves going to writing conferences such at the Romance Writers of America national conference and leaving saying "What's the point."

The point is they don't have to quit like this. To find a solution to our problem, we have to think outside of the box. We have to think about changing what we are doing.

If we think about the struggles the publishing industry is feeling right now, we can see that, unless the industry as a whole considers change, the problems are not going to go away. Apparently getting readers to the books in the way we used to do isn't working right now. Maybe the models we used did work once but, for some reason, the models aren't working now. Should we continue to keep ramming our heads into the walls and make excuses? I would personally say we need to do what my authors do. Consider changing a course of action.

So the question for all of you this Thursday is pretty simple. Are you willing to make a change?