Surrendering Your Dream by Jennifer Uhlarik

What does “success” look like to you? Maybe you’ve mapped out each step, and nothing short of that vision will do. It’s never wrong to dream, but let me share an important lesson I learned along the way.

I was twelve when the writing bug bit. I began cranking out stories with every spare moment while developing my vision of “success”—a picture that started with getting published by a top-tier publisher and grew more grandiose from there. It would take hard work, but the effort would eventually pay off.

 So I thought.

 After earning my B.A. in writing, I began shopping my first novel. My first batch of submissions quickly ended in rejections. Following a second batch of rejections, I re-edited the novel and tried again. More rejections. Each little heartbreak brought clarity. My writing wasn’t ready yet. Time to reassess.

Only I didn’t. Another storm hit my life—the divorce I never wanted. Instead of honing my skills into something worthy of a top-tier publisher, I submitted to what I discovered were fly-by-night eBook publishers during the infancy of the eBook revolution. I published a few stories, but with little time, energy, or money to promote, the books didn’t sell. Matters grew worse when, a year after opening, these publishers secretly closed up shop and made off with any earnings I did have.

I’d worked my original dream with no success. Plan B was in shambles. My strivings had left me tired and wounded, so I shifted my focus to survival rather than writing.

It was the best thing that could’ve happened!

Fast-forward to 2007. I married a wonderful man who afforded me the opportunity to write full time again. I returned home more humble, willing to surrender my grandiose plan for God’s direction. Rather than clinging to my dream, I asked God to orchestrate my journey.

Once I surrendered, I discovered that “success” wasn’t some elusive point in the distance. It was finding joy in the process. Instead of skyrocketing my career into the stratosphere, God took me on a leisurely drive in the country with plenty of picnics along the way.

Have I been published with a top-tier publisher? Not yet. Sometimes I still chafe at that, but God’s plan has led me in the most wonderful directions. One week ago, I signed my twelfth publishing contract, all with delightful mid-range or small presses I’ve loved working with. I’ve published mostly 20,000-word novellas, rather than the 100,000-word novels I once planned. Writing “short” has taught me more about story-crafting than all my college courses combined. And in a truly unexpected turn, God made me the managing editor of Trailblazer Western Fiction, I’m sure to remind me that this journey isn’t all about me but whom I can help along the way.

If I’d never surrendered my dream for God’s, I’d probably still be striving for some unattainable idea of success. Instead, God and I celebrate small victories often, and success comes in the most unpredictable ways.

So I leave you with this—do you need to surrender your dream to find true success?

Do you need to surrender your dream to find true success? via @JenniferUhlarik #SeriouslyWrite #writingtips

~~~~~~ 

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse”
book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

Social Media Links:

Website: www.jenniferuhlarik.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferUhlarikAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferUhlarik
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jenuhlarik/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferuhlarik/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jennifer-uhlarik

What would make you a success? by Lisa Karon Richardson

Success means different things to different people. Today, author Lisa Karon Richardson gives her experience with finding the meaning of success. Maybe you can relate. -- Sandy

Lisa: To be honest I can’t tell you how to be successful. Success is a subjective measure, and I’m learning that every time I think I’ve achieved it, I pounce, only to find that my celebration was premature.

When I was unpublished the goal was: get published. The validation I get from having that contract will mean I’m a success. But then I got my first contract for a novella. I was thrilled at the opportunity to see my name on a cover… But the cover also had the names of other people. I wanted a cover with just my name. The bar had moved.

After that I got a short novel published, just my name was on the cover—but the story was only 45K words long. I was really hoping to be published in trade length fiction. God blessed me with a three-book series contract which I got to write with one of my best friends. Once again, a great opportunity and I was so thrilled and felt blessed to have been given it. I’m proud of what we did with those stories. But then… well they didn’t sell so well. And we all know what that means—those sales numbers will haunt me forever. I’ll never get another contract. There I was multi-published in trade length fiction and I was feeling like more of a failure than I did before I was published. Maybe it would all be fixed if I could get my very own trade length story with just my name on the cover. Surely then, the accolades would come. I was not afraid to put in the hard work of marketing. Whatever it took. And then that dream came true. And you know what. The book didn’t sell. My pride insists that I add that it got great reviews, but for some reason it didn’t sell.

If my life was only a search for the arbitrary “success” I would probably have given up last year. But God has been working on me and I’ve learned something. God has not called us to what the world would define as “success”. (Although some people are tested by success.) Rather He has called us to live a life of significance.

What’s the difference? Success is about self. Significance is about others. Success asks everyone to admire it. Significance asks how it can serve. Success says “I’ll do what God asks but only if I can see how it benefits me.” Significance says “I’ll do what God asks regardless of how it hurts.” Success is fleeting. Significance is eternal.

Chasing success will never satisfy us. There will always be another award to win. There will always be someone who has better sales. It’s an aggravating way to live and a miserable way by which to measure our self worth.

What if, this year, instead of chasing success we began to look instead for significance? How would we go about that? Perhaps it means putting more of our authentic selves in our writing. It might look like surrendering our plans for our novel, and trusting God to get it into the hands of the ones who need it. I know it would look a lot more like we trust Him with our future. We can rejoice with the author who got a contract even when we didn’t. We can help an author who is a step or two behind us on the journey. We can encourage someone who’s hurting.

You can make a difference in the world. God’s got a plan for you. Your words could be written simply for one person—they may never get published, and yet, they could change everything for that one. How is that NOT success? Even if you never make a dime as a writer, you have value as a child of God and your significance is measured not in sales figures, but in your willingness to heed His voice.

Have you ever looked at your writing life and doubted your success? Has that idea of success changed over the years?

~~~~~~

Influenced by books like The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, Lisa Karon Richardson’s early stories were heavy on boarding schools and creepy houses. Now, even though she’s (mostly) grown-up she still loves a healthy dash of adventure in any story she creates, even her real-life story. She’s been a missionary to the Seychelles and Gabon and now that she and her husband are back in America, they are tackling a new adventure, starting a daughter-work church in a new city while raising a family. She has published several novels and novellas.