In this space, WestBow Press publishes articles written by our authors in which they share some aspect of their self-publishing journeys. The following blog is from Larry D Horton, author of “The Final Journey”. To learn more about this author visit his website or Twitter. To begin your self-publishing journey, get a free WestBow Press publishing guide today!
Dream Stealers
The call to follow one’s writing dream often takes a path strewn with potholes, detours, delays, spits and sputters. Others may throw road blocks along your path that hinder you from fulfilling your dream. An author (Bear Grylls), that I admire, calls those others dream stealers. Each of us, if we reflect back through our lives, can identify individuals, events, circumstances, and maybe our own fears, that have prevented us from fulfilling our writing dream.
We cannot let those dream stealers determine whether we fulfill our personal dream or a more profound call on our lives from the Lord. As a writer, you will experience rejection from publishing houses, family and friends who will try to protect you from disappointment out of their love for you, or possibly your own self-doubts. All are dream stealers.
So how do we overcome them?
Overcoming those dream stealers is easy to write about. There are certain basic skills and disciplines that, when used, can help you overcome the hindrances that you confront. Discipline, self-belief, surrounding yourself with affirming individuals, are just a few of the secrets to eventual success. But we have to be honest and realistic. Doing all of these is much harder in real life than it is to write them down in this paragraph. Life is hard. There are no guarantees that success will be your experience. At the same time, there are no guarantees that you will fail.
Writing is truly a calling from our Lord. That is the one thing that we, as Christians, have that makes the final difference in whether or not we overcome our writing dream stealers. The strength, common sense, discipline, and wisdom to see our dream fulfilled are all ultimately gifts given to us from our Lord. And when we stand in the center of the Lord’s will as writers we will have the peace that surpasses all comprehension, a peace that guides and strengthens us regardless of what dream stealers we run into on our writing journey.
Believe in Your Dreams
Your dream may be something new. For others, it may have existed for decades. You may have already experienced dream stealers. Others of you may have given up on your dream many years ago because you were unable to overcome a dream stealer. It is my prayer, whether you are dreaming a new dream or one that has been with you all your life, that you will not surrender to the dream stealers. Keep believing in your dream. Never give in to the temptation to abandon that dream. Give your dream back to the Lord who first gave it to you and ask that He show you the path that you should follow to make your dream live.
Follow your heart, your dream, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Then hold on for the ride of your life.
– WBP –
WestBow Press authors who’d like to share a 350-600 word experience related to the self-publishing of their books are invited to do so by sending a message through the WestBow Press Facebook page and follow the WestBow Press Twitter account @WestBowPress. WestBow Press reserves the right to edit stories for content, grammar, punctuation, and length