This is obviously not the full transcript. You have to listen to hear the full weirdness, but . . . here’s the core.
How Do You Sustain a Career as an Author?
It’s a really good question, right? One, all of us authors are trying to figure out.
Rise With Drew writes,
“Creative careers are slippery. One-hit wonders abound, but fewer are enduring superstars,” Steven writes. “And this level of commitment requires not just originality but rather that ultimate expression of originality: the consistent reinvention of self. Again and again.
“Long-haul creativity isn’t about a first act or a second act. It’s a third and fourth and fifth act. It’s that ultimate impossible, the infinite game, where the goal is simply to keep on playing.”
There’s a woman over on the Creative Penn who gives a pretty long interview about author sustainability, pimping out her book–which may be one of the keys of of sustainability–who has been writing since 2014. Claire Thomas is her name.
She’s written books about this and uses a personality test (enneagram) to explain to writers their blocks. In the podcast she says,
“In our industry, we have a crisis of people being stuck and trapped because they’ve limited their options. Their subconscious mind has limited their options because of the patterns that it’s functioning in as a default.
“So they can’t always see an aligned path forward when the industry undergoes swift changes, which it does very frequently. So I can give you an example.
“If you’re an author who’s what we call a type three, this is the achiever, then your core fear is lacking value or being worthless, and pretty much everything you do is to avoid confronting this fear or feeling like you lack value or are worthless, if you’re three.
“A pattern that almost always arises from this is the belief that they earn value through accomplishments and achievements. This can look like how many books they have in their catalog, how high their books rank after launch, and how many subscribers they have on their email list.”
So, when you look at your personality type, you can see what might be holding you back. What the old scripts are running through your head, how your complacency or peacekeeping tendencies might keep you from talking about your triumphs for marketing, or how your love for isolating research might keep you from actually putting words down. More on that in the audio.
DOG TIP FOR LIFE
Work through your blocks to advance and evolve. Channel your inner cat. Or inner duck.
COOL EXERCISE
Go figure out your Enneagram. See if it’s blocking you. Do it for one of your characters that you’re struggling with.
PLACE TO SUBMIT
Deadline: May 1, 2024
We are accepting found poetry submissions for Heron Tree Volume 11. There is no fee to submit. Please see our submission guidelines at herontree.com/how/.
Creative Cosmos: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Art
Deadline: April 30, 2024
New monthly digital magazine, Creative Cosmos, seeking submissions of short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and original artwork. Creative Cosmos challenges mainstream narratives and champions the power of intuition, creativity, and high sensitivity as essential forces for self-understanding and positive change. First issue June 2024. Please visit our website for details: creativecosmosmagazine.com/call-for-submissions/. Be sure to note the deadline for submissions.
SHOUT OUT!
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License.
Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free.
WE HAVE EXTRA CONTENT ALL ABOUT LIVING HAPPY OVER HERE! It’s pretty awesome.
We have a podcast, LOVING THE STRANGE, which we stream biweekly live on Carrie’s Facebook and Twitter and YouTube on Fridays. Her Facebook and Twitter handles are all carriejonesbooks or carriejonesbook. But she also has extra cool content focused on writing tips here.
Carrie is reading one of her raw poems every once in awhile on CARRIE DOES POEMS. And there you go! Whew! That’s a lot!
LINKS WE TALK ABOUT OTHER THAN THE ONES UP THERE
