Ian Dawson's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-advice"
Writing Tip of the Week: Embracing Failure
Everyone fails. It’s true. If you know their name, it’s 100% likely that person has failed at some point in their life and/or career. While we may be presented with a polished, public relations-packaged version of that individual, if you dig into their past, you’ll see they were met with failures and disappointments when starting in their profession.
Failure is a part of life. It’s part of the human experience. How we deal with failure and disappointment can lead to either growth and success or giving up and walking away. It can be hard to work on something for months or years only for it not to gain traction or interest once it’s out in public view. It sucks, but it happens.
While it can be challenging to pull yourself out of the perpetual cycle of despair when failure knocks at your door, you must change your perspective and mindset to utilize failure as a helpful tool rather than a hurtful injury.
When failure strikes, step back and ask why you perceive what’s happened as a failure. Are you measuring your successes and failures against those of others? Are you focused too closely on a specific aspect of your work instead of the bigger picture? What’s stopping you from getting back up and trying again? Are you afraid to fail again? Are you chasing the myth of perfection?
If you wrote and self-published a novel, got it on Amazon and other sites, got some good reviews, and didn’t sell a single copy, is that a failure? I’d say you accomplished more than many others have, and now your work is available to be discovered by others. It may not happen overnight, but you will find readers and an audience over time.
Failure will always exist, but how you deal with and work through it will make a huge difference. Maybe that book didn’t sell, but perhaps the next one will. Or the one after that. Keep writing and putting work out there; eventually, you’ll find an audience.
I once saw an interview with author Dan Brown in which he discussed how poorly his first three novels did when they were first published. Even his agent was baffled that they weren’t doing well. Did he give up and stop writing? No.
His fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became an international bestseller. It was then that his previous three novels also became bestsellers. If he had given up, his writing career would have ended with three books, but he didn’t let the failure of the first three stop him. He embraced it, kept working, and motivated himself to write a novel that currently has sold over 80 million copies.
Don’t allow failure to win and dictate what you should and shouldn’t do when being creative. Use your passion, desire, and drive to push through failure, learn from it, and make yourself a stronger writer as a result.
While it’s important to learn from our failures, it’s even more important to accept that those failures are part of the process on the way to success.
Happy Failing, and I’ll see you next time!
Failure is a part of life. It’s part of the human experience. How we deal with failure and disappointment can lead to either growth and success or giving up and walking away. It can be hard to work on something for months or years only for it not to gain traction or interest once it’s out in public view. It sucks, but it happens.
While it can be challenging to pull yourself out of the perpetual cycle of despair when failure knocks at your door, you must change your perspective and mindset to utilize failure as a helpful tool rather than a hurtful injury.
When failure strikes, step back and ask why you perceive what’s happened as a failure. Are you measuring your successes and failures against those of others? Are you focused too closely on a specific aspect of your work instead of the bigger picture? What’s stopping you from getting back up and trying again? Are you afraid to fail again? Are you chasing the myth of perfection?
If you wrote and self-published a novel, got it on Amazon and other sites, got some good reviews, and didn’t sell a single copy, is that a failure? I’d say you accomplished more than many others have, and now your work is available to be discovered by others. It may not happen overnight, but you will find readers and an audience over time.
Failure will always exist, but how you deal with and work through it will make a huge difference. Maybe that book didn’t sell, but perhaps the next one will. Or the one after that. Keep writing and putting work out there; eventually, you’ll find an audience.
I once saw an interview with author Dan Brown in which he discussed how poorly his first three novels did when they were first published. Even his agent was baffled that they weren’t doing well. Did he give up and stop writing? No.
His fourth novel, The Da Vinci Code, became an international bestseller. It was then that his previous three novels also became bestsellers. If he had given up, his writing career would have ended with three books, but he didn’t let the failure of the first three stop him. He embraced it, kept working, and motivated himself to write a novel that currently has sold over 80 million copies.
Don’t allow failure to win and dictate what you should and shouldn’t do when being creative. Use your passion, desire, and drive to push through failure, learn from it, and make yourself a stronger writer as a result.
While it’s important to learn from our failures, it’s even more important to accept that those failures are part of the process on the way to success.
Happy Failing, and I’ll see you next time!
The Curse of the Productivity Suckers
They can strike without warning. They’re all around you. In your home. At work. In your car. They can drain your time and energy quickly, leaving you panicked and frustrated when you return to reality.
They are Productivity Suckers. A vengeful and insidious curse that seeks to distract you for hours. Hours of scrolling. Hours of liking. Hours of watching. And once they get their hooks into you, it can be a struggle to escape their tentacles of destruction.
Any creative endeavor requires our full attention. Unfortunately, we live in a world where phones, tablets, computers, watches, cars, and in-home assistants like Alexa or Google Home provide endless distractions that can affect our ability as creators to get the work done.
I’ve fallen into this trap more than I care to admit. Still, I want to help myself and anyone else listening to break the cycle and get back to their writing, drawing, designing, or any other creative work they should be doing instead of doomscrolling on their phone watching the world implode.
One method I’ve found that works best for me is unplugging. I turn off my phone and my tablet, remove my watch, and even switch off Wi-Fi on my laptop so I guarantee I have fewer distractions as I sit down to write.
Another is removing technology for some stages of the process completely. I recently bought a roll of butcher paper. I cut it into sections, and use them on my wall to visually outline and work on projects. Using notecards, markers, and Post-its, I can work with my story on a larger scale than a computer screen and see the big picture of what I’m creating on the wall before me. It’s also a great way to escape from in front of the screen and actively add and remove cards as you work on your story.
Piggybacking on the no technology concept, take a few days a week and write with a pen and paper instead of on your computer. This also allows you to be more mobile, enabling you to write anywhere you wish. Maybe there’s a park or hiking spot you enjoy. Taking a journal and pen and writing out in nature is a great way to unplug, unwind, and unstick your creativity.
Technology is a blessing and a curse. And while I understand the need to escape and immerse yourself in a YouTube video on the history of linoleum at 3 AM, it’s also essential to use productivity suckers in moderation and for limited periods.
Your time writing and creating should outweigh any time you spend online, and in the end, you’ll have a piece of creative work that you've crafted and made a reality. And that’s better than any AI Slop the internet can produce.
Happy Creating, and I’ll see you next time!
They are Productivity Suckers. A vengeful and insidious curse that seeks to distract you for hours. Hours of scrolling. Hours of liking. Hours of watching. And once they get their hooks into you, it can be a struggle to escape their tentacles of destruction.
Any creative endeavor requires our full attention. Unfortunately, we live in a world where phones, tablets, computers, watches, cars, and in-home assistants like Alexa or Google Home provide endless distractions that can affect our ability as creators to get the work done.
I’ve fallen into this trap more than I care to admit. Still, I want to help myself and anyone else listening to break the cycle and get back to their writing, drawing, designing, or any other creative work they should be doing instead of doomscrolling on their phone watching the world implode.
One method I’ve found that works best for me is unplugging. I turn off my phone and my tablet, remove my watch, and even switch off Wi-Fi on my laptop so I guarantee I have fewer distractions as I sit down to write.
Another is removing technology for some stages of the process completely. I recently bought a roll of butcher paper. I cut it into sections, and use them on my wall to visually outline and work on projects. Using notecards, markers, and Post-its, I can work with my story on a larger scale than a computer screen and see the big picture of what I’m creating on the wall before me. It’s also a great way to escape from in front of the screen and actively add and remove cards as you work on your story.
Piggybacking on the no technology concept, take a few days a week and write with a pen and paper instead of on your computer. This also allows you to be more mobile, enabling you to write anywhere you wish. Maybe there’s a park or hiking spot you enjoy. Taking a journal and pen and writing out in nature is a great way to unplug, unwind, and unstick your creativity.
Technology is a blessing and a curse. And while I understand the need to escape and immerse yourself in a YouTube video on the history of linoleum at 3 AM, it’s also essential to use productivity suckers in moderation and for limited periods.
Your time writing and creating should outweigh any time you spend online, and in the end, you’ll have a piece of creative work that you've crafted and made a reality. And that’s better than any AI Slop the internet can produce.
Happy Creating, and I’ll see you next time!
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
I wanted to thank everybody who takes the time to read my blog posts and book reviews, and to listen to my audio blogs. I appreciate your support, and I hope my insights and advice about writing and the creative process have helped you find your creative spark this past year.
Happy Thanksgiving, and have a wonderful holiday!
Happy Thanksgiving, and have a wonderful holiday!
