I've just released a new story, now available on Wattpad! It's called Interview with a Future Bestselling Author: Hopes of a Future in Fiction.
Click here to read the story on Wattpad.
In this "interview" I set out to motivate myself to carry on with my writing despite the overwhelming fear that my writing isn't—or will never be—"good enough." I decided to kick myself in the pants, get up off my worry, and give myself a goal to reach.
How did I do this? By interviewing my "future" self and experimenting with what it would feel like to become a bestselling author.
More...
Achieving "Bestselling Author" Status
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not currently a bestselling author. So why did I take the time to write such nonsense, you may be asking? Simple: I needed to.
You see, writers don't just write; they must write.
Not only that; I was tired of being scared. Scared of not feeling as if I'm a "good enough" writer, as I first mentioned above. But really, what is "good enough"? Isn't it different for each writer? Does someone else's definition of what makes a "good" writer apply to me? Do I have to abide by someone else's view of how I should write?
Thankfully, no.
I recently finished reading an inspiring book by Dean Wesley Smith called Writing into the Dark (for which I'll be posting a review here on my blog soon). I won't go into a lot of detail on the book here (I'll save that for the review; for now, scroll to the end to see more info), but I will say this: after reading his book, I now feel relieved that when I research new ideas and suggestions from other "professional" and "reputable" writers/authors, I only need glean what works for me and leave out the rest.
This revelation, among the many other nuggets in Writing into the Dark, was invaluable to me and my writer self-esteem.
#Writers don't just write; they must write.
Bestselling Author or Just Pretending?
As the subtitle of my newest story suggests, this "interview" was written in hopes to give me direction on how to achieve "bestselling author" status later on in life—hopefully sooner rather than later.
It was weird at first to be writing about myself like I was already a bestselling author; I'm not, after all ... yet. However, one of my goals as a writer is to write more fiction, so doesn't it make sense to pretend to be something I'm not? Isn't that what fiction is all about? Better yet, isn't that what we all used to do as kids: pretend?
So why is it something that's become so taboo in our society today to pretend? We go to the movies to watch actors pretend to be characters in a story. We read books to pretend we ourselves are journeying with the characters in their own realms.
Also—perhaps on a more extreme level—there are tons of fan-cons out there (short for "convention") where people have fun pretending to be their favorite characters from everything ranging from comic books, to movies, to TV series, to video games, etc.
When I research new ideas by other "professional" #writers, I only need glean what works for me & leave out the rest.
But for some reason it's perceived as "childish" or "inappropriate" to pretend when it comes to normal, every day life.
Why is that, I wonder?
Why not give your creative side the freedom to explore and uncover all new discoveries you wouldn't have found otherwise? As long as it's legal, ethical, and moral, I see nothing wrong with taking a few minutes every day to use your imagination and be an artist. Why neglect this limitless gift?
So I pretended to be a bestselling author in order to "look into the future" and see what it would feel like. More importantly, I did it in order to motivate myself toward that goal. Think of it as an experiment in fiction.
Only, how awesome would it be if, in my case, fiction became fact?
(Okay, I may be rambling here; I only intended to stick this post up as a link to the interview/story, but I've been in more of a writing mood lately than I have in a while, and it takes a while to get back into that groove. So I want to enjoy it while it's fresh and hot on the plate.)
And speaking of writing, check out my other free stories...
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An Overview of Interview with a Future Bestselling Author
In Interview with a Future Bestselling Author: Hopes of a Future in Fiction, I discuss topics like:
- What would it look like to have completed, not only my first novel, but the rest of the books in the series? (Note: I'm not sure this will even be a series; just speculating here).
- How satisfying would it feel to have written multiple award-winning articles, novels, and short stories?
- How would it feel to encourage others in their writing by telling my story of how I achieved bestselling author status?
- How awesome would it be to have achieved bestselling author status within only a few short years?
- How liberating would it feel to have finally overcome the obstacles that I've faced for years and to find my groove as a writer who can create freely without fear (or "made-up danger" as Dean Wesley Smith calls it in his book)?
If you're interested in finding the answers to the above questions, why not check out the story for yourself...
First Steps Toward Becoming a Bestselling Author
If I'm going to be serious about achieving bestselling author status, I've got to get my work out there and get noticed. That's why I'm entering this new story in the 2015 Wattys Awards.
I've been experimenting with writing on Wattpad since around February 2015, and have found it a great place to engage with other aspiring authors and writers. Wattpad is its own sort of social media site, but for writers.
Wattpad is even starting to gain ground as a host to professional, real bestselling authors and writers such as Margaret Atwood. Not only this, but it's been getting the attention of some publishing houses who have been partnering with authors to achieve their goals in seeing their works traditionally published.
Myself, I like to think of @Wattpad as "training wheels" for writers.
Writing My Way Out of the Dark
I personally haven't yet mustered the courage to just sit down and write a story from scratch (most of my stories have been polished journal entries and stories I've written over the years).
But now that I have Writing into the Dark to guide me, I hope to go full steam ahead and write stories without worrying about getting them "perfect" or if anyone will think I'm a bad writer because they're not "polished" upon first reading them.
So to make sure I see the future come true, I'm taking a leap of faith and entering Interview with a Future Bestselling Author: Hopes of a Future in Fiction into its first contest. It may not win, but that's not going to stop me from writing more stories, entering more contests, and working my way towards becoming an "official" bestselling author.
And neither should it stop you, dear writer.
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If you would like to see more of my writing, be sure and check out the books I've already written, as well as those I'm currently working on, by visiting my Books page.
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Question: Have you ever written something about your "future" self to see what it would look/feel like? Why not try it today?
Leave a comment below and tell us all about it.
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