“The Call”

Hello all! Katy Lee here. This is sort of a repost. Because of a certain phone call I received this week, I thought a follow-up was in order. <Grin>

So anyway, when I started this writing venture a couple years ago and joined the amazing Scribes, I posed the question for all you hard-working writers out there.

What if a publisher called you right now and offered you a book contract?

Are you ready for your success? Or does the thought tie your stomach up in knots? Do you have doubts in your ability to meet your contract needs, thinking maybe you just got lucky and the first book might have been a fluke? Do you start to turn a little green when someone mentions the word marketing? Do you even worry yourself to the point you stop writing?

If you answered yes to any of these, do not worry. It is perfectly normal to fear the unknown, and until we get there, success IS the unknown. But there is a simple cure for what ails you, and it really is no big secret. It is the same remedy that enabled you to sit down and type page one in the first place.

The reason we fear success is because we don’t really know what it looks like just yet. We don’t have a visual in our minds to go to. Before we started writing, the idea of sitting down and finishing a manuscript fell into the category of the unknown, but we would just conjure up an image of what our book cover might look like, and we were then able to type on. For those of you who reached the completed manuscript stage, editing and submitting seemed daunting, but you bought a resource book like The Writer’s Market, learned what this next step looked like and it all worked out.

You created a visual for each step of your process. You didn’t wish on any stars…or maybe just a few, but even if you did, wishes did not get you this far.

It was your ability to imagine.

The Unlocked Secret: The human mind gives you power over your fears. Define what success looks like for you, give it an image in your mind, and it will no longer be the unknown. When those inner doubts hit, all you’ll need to do is pull up your “success” visual and take back the power to push on.

So, what kind of visuals have worked for you? Or are you still struggling with those fears?

And as for that phone call….It came! I am now a Harlequin author! But I have to admit, all those symptoms I mentioned above came flooding in. I had to reread my own advice from this post here to remind me to start imagining again. I can do this!

And if you want to read about “The Call” please check out my warm welcome from Harlequin here: http://community.harlequin.com/showthread.php/674-NEW-SALE!!!-Katy-Lee-sold-to-LOVE-INSPIRED-SUSPENSE!!!?p=22481#post22481