Chris Dietzel's Blog - Posts Tagged "covers"
Invest In Yourself
Believing in yourself is the single greatest thing you can do to achieve your dreams. But part of believing in yourself is investing in your future. As I work toward making my goals a reality, I’ve discovered that investing in yourself can come in many different forms.
Time – The most precious resource you have is your time. If you want to accomplish something difficult, you must be willing to devote enormous amounts of your life to your goal. For me, this meant spending years learning how to tell a story and honing my voice as a writer. The saying, “If it was easy, everyone would do it” is all about time. Said a different way: if someone told you that you would have to dedicate a minimum of ten or twelve years toward your dream, without any guarantee of success, how many people would volunteer for that possible failure? Most people wouldn’t. That is why time is an investment. There are no short cuts and it takes a large part of your life to achieve something meaningful.
Knowledge – When I was in college, I didn’t believe in myself enough to take writing classes because I thought my dream was hopeless. (Instead, I sat through classes like “Political Thinking” and “Public Speaking”, Ugh.) A couple years after I started writing, though, I had put together a variety of stories but didn’t have anyone to critique them. So I decided to sign up for a pair of online writing workshops. These were vital because they gave me a venue to have other people assess my writing and tell me what they thought I was doing well and what I could improve upon. I left those workshops with a completely different outlook on my writing. Everyone needs the knowledge required to achieve their dream. For me, that came in the form of peer review feedback. For other people, it might mean learning a new skill or taking a new course. Knowledge provides direction. Without it, you are blindly moving toward your goal, with little chance of stumbling upon it.
Covers – Why would anyone invest years in writing a book, only to scrimp on the last step—having a cover designed? The cover is the first impression your book makes on readers—it needs to capture their attention. Pam Stack, producer and host an Authors on the Air, and Indie Author News both just had great write-ups on how critically important good covers are (http://authorsontheair.com/why-i-wont... and http://www.indieauthornews.com/2012/1... respectively). A CEO wouldn’t try to design his own company’s logo, and a writer shouldn’t attempt to create their own cover. If something is important to you, never try to cut corners. Spend the money to make a good first impression. It will be worth it in the end.
These are just a few examples. The important thing to remember is that, as the owner of your respective dream, you need to prepare yourself to achieve it. And that means investing in yourself.
Have a great week.
Time – The most precious resource you have is your time. If you want to accomplish something difficult, you must be willing to devote enormous amounts of your life to your goal. For me, this meant spending years learning how to tell a story and honing my voice as a writer. The saying, “If it was easy, everyone would do it” is all about time. Said a different way: if someone told you that you would have to dedicate a minimum of ten or twelve years toward your dream, without any guarantee of success, how many people would volunteer for that possible failure? Most people wouldn’t. That is why time is an investment. There are no short cuts and it takes a large part of your life to achieve something meaningful.
Knowledge – When I was in college, I didn’t believe in myself enough to take writing classes because I thought my dream was hopeless. (Instead, I sat through classes like “Political Thinking” and “Public Speaking”, Ugh.) A couple years after I started writing, though, I had put together a variety of stories but didn’t have anyone to critique them. So I decided to sign up for a pair of online writing workshops. These were vital because they gave me a venue to have other people assess my writing and tell me what they thought I was doing well and what I could improve upon. I left those workshops with a completely different outlook on my writing. Everyone needs the knowledge required to achieve their dream. For me, that came in the form of peer review feedback. For other people, it might mean learning a new skill or taking a new course. Knowledge provides direction. Without it, you are blindly moving toward your goal, with little chance of stumbling upon it.
Covers – Why would anyone invest years in writing a book, only to scrimp on the last step—having a cover designed? The cover is the first impression your book makes on readers—it needs to capture their attention. Pam Stack, producer and host an Authors on the Air, and Indie Author News both just had great write-ups on how critically important good covers are (http://authorsontheair.com/why-i-wont... and http://www.indieauthornews.com/2012/1... respectively). A CEO wouldn’t try to design his own company’s logo, and a writer shouldn’t attempt to create their own cover. If something is important to you, never try to cut corners. Spend the money to make a good first impression. It will be worth it in the end.
These are just a few examples. The important thing to remember is that, as the owner of your respective dream, you need to prepare yourself to achieve it. And that means investing in yourself.
Have a great week.
