Thoughts on Failure, Movement to the Future.

I don't think a single person like the thought of failure; I know I don't.

But, there is something about the act of failing that I think is necessary. This doesn't mean that you SHOULD go looking for failure, but go looking for how to be better.

Failure is what makes a person determined to succeed, to try again, right?

That statement was not one that I easily came to, Dear Readers. If you had asked me what I thought if failure three years ago, or as far back as 2010 (that's seven years ago), I would have told told you that failure is the worst thing in the world. That it was a sign that you probably should try something else. That you weren't good enough. Maybe that you (or myself since I am talking about a specific thing) weren't cut out for what ever it was you (or I) failed at.

Something else to consider, Dear Readers; that failure makes us see what we are really good at and pushes us to makes those things, those talents stronger. I mean, I have been a writer, and poet since high school, but it wasn't until sometime after 2010 that I actually felt like I was a writer. I think it is because I never really failed at writing up until that point, or maybe never really tried to be a writer. Could even be both, as it amounts to the same thing; I never tried to published my writing, I never revised my writing, I never put my writing out in the world for others to read.

The only difference from that time  in the late 90s to to the present (2018) is that I've failed. I've failed to meet deadlines. Failed to win a contest; failed to revised a piece of writing; failed to edited a piece of writing properly; or failed to achieve funding on a Kickstarter project, twice.

What I HAVE done is to show my writing to my editor. I have one now; to take his suggestions; to let others read my writing, not just as a casual reader, but as Beta Readers, with the harsher criticisms that comes with having Beta Readers. I tried new ways of revising and editing; actually seeing my writing, my stories, from the Objective, not Subjective viewpoint; submitting my writing to online journals, contests, and putting my writing online for others to read; or even trying to Kickstarter funds to , GASP, self-publish my own literary magazine.

I have failed a lot.

But, I have also succeeded!

My first Kickstarter back in January of THIS YEAR, failed to make funding, but I was given some advise and suggestions about promoting the project, time of year to run the project, and content of said project. So, I tried again in April. While I was re-structuring my Kickstarter, I tried something new, I developed a PDF version of the literary magazine to see if it could be done with the resources I had available. It was! I raised funding for the first two issues of what became my literary magazine, "Stories to be Told".

Now, when I thought I had it figured out, I didn't. It appears my third time up to bat at Kickstartering was ALSO a failure. But it wasn't for naught, because  this summer I began to think about how I more a sustainable means to fund my projects, whether it was more issues of "Stories to be Told", or maybe launch my children's books, or my podcast I had been developing. I have so many stories, both completed and incomplete, of stories, poems, or plays laying around that I could certainly keep the mantle of Writer (with a capital W).

This is what I wanted to do with my life; I wanted to write stories, tell stories, and share them with the world.

All this means, Dear Reader is that I have to fail sometimes, well, I have to fail a lot. Sometimes I have to struggle. A fan base, a readership doesn't start out like a Neil Gaiman or a Stephen King, heck it doesn't even start out like an Emily Dickenson, J.R.R. Tolkien, or C.S Lewis for that matter. When you are an Unknown, you have to start at the bottom. You have to build your trust and interest. Sometimes your Twitter followers will increase by 1000 overnight, and a week later you'll lose 950 of them. Sometimes you will lose readers just by doing what you normally do, putting out new content, a new newsletter, or just tweeting about a new book from a fellow author; sometimes the muse will not visit you when you are trying to meet a deadline; or sometimes you will feel that all of your talent is a sham, that you were wrong to go into this career.

These are all very real feelings, thoughts, that I and countless other writers have felt at one time or another. The point is to tell you (and myself), that the failures you encounter are there to push you; to test you; to help you be the best writer, chef, stage manager, Literal Video producer, or gamer that you can be. True, it might be that you decide that isn't for you, but maybe, just maybe you'll find that you still want to tell stories, direct plays, produce Literal Videos; you will take your failures and make them successes.

See?

I may have failed at this Kickstarter  for Issue Two of "Stores to be Told", but now I'm launching my Patreon, "My Mythologies" to keep my stories, my literary magazine, podcast, children's books alive. I know I will struggle and likely, I will fail again, but I will also succeed. I have already succeeding in much since I started on this path. I am a stronger writer and a MUCH BETTER business woman than I was in 2017.

Failure, to me, means success, by way of taking the longer road to get where I was going.

If you want to learn more, please check out my Patreon: My Mythologies, my Website, my Soundcloud, and my Youtube Channel for more content. This blog is still up and running. I am in the middle of OctPoWriMo. Here, There be a Writer is evolving, please come back and see whatg I have in store for the future.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!
~Cindy

Kickstarter Status Update: Stories to be Told, unsuccessful? I don't think so...

My Kickstarter is over.

I didn't make funding.

I did make 486 dollars of my 1,100 goal. That is 44% funded, and pretty damn good for my first time out.

Thank you to backers and everyone who supported me through donations, emotional and mental support, and shared the living daylights out of this little project of mine. This project, Stories to be Told is so important to me, and I can only move forward with its creation.

It has been quite a month. I found my passion, my Arete.

I have learned a lot this January, everything from marketing/business practices, how to get back up after falling, finding my joy in my writing my Arete), the choice to go independent, and the most important thing I learned is how to fail forward. Failure is a part of life and for every thousand failures, there will be successes. The more you fail and keep going (learning from each mistake and misstep), well the more you are to succeed. They also say it takes about 10,000 hours of work to make something a reality.

Arete: (Moral Virtue) as defined by Wikipedia, excellence of any kind. Connected to the concept of fulfillment of purpose. Greek in origin.

My friend and mentor, James always says that arete is the fulfillment of one's true purpose. I like that so much, that I knew I had to buckle down and take my writing seriously, edited and revise my writing, and take a step into my fears and do thing I was afraid to do; get myself published. That lead into the Kickstarter, and little did I realize that I would start a path to greatness and ever failure.

Note: failure is only true failure if it stops you from moving forward.

"It is not a catastrophe, but merely a course correction." 

~James A. Owen

So, what is next? Well, after I write to my backers, then I begin Plan B, which entails putting together "Stories to be Told", Issue 0 in a PDF version for my backers as a thank you.  Quite possibly I will sell the PDF version in the near future, but that is still early to say. There is the re-planning and re-structuring of the Stories to be Told Kickstarter re-launch with the printing of Issue #1 (maybe Issue summer or Issue * or Issue Badger, or whatever I care to call it). This will require a month worth of marketing and promotion prior to re-launch. I'm looking at April. Also, includes promoted my self as a writer, going to seminars and lectures on writing and business of art, printing business cards, bookmarks and stickers as promotional materials. Even going to writing convention, especially after I has print versions of Stories to be Told, although I will still go to these conventions and events before that happens.

My Publishing Company!

I still have a Winter Give-Away over at Here, There be a Writer. Go over there, click like and share the Winter Give-Away status to be entered into the give-away that runs through tomorrow (1/31/2018).  I will be drawing winners for a limited edition bookmark and another for a Phoenix Rising Press sticker.

On the creative side this means I need to continue to write and edit new works for future Issues. Also, I am working on ramping up of my submission goals for my children's books, A Little Lost and A Spatula Story, and any other pieces for my current and past catalog of works. The only difference this time is I will only by submitting from a list of selected works and researching places where I think they would fit into, and then submitting those pieces to those places until I get a taker.. That is going to be a project in itself.

These are the things I started in 2017, and will manifest in 2018 and beyond.

I know that sounds like a lot, right? It is. But it is worth it. Will I fail? Sometimes yes. But other times I won't. I will always learn what to do differently, what new things to try, and document what I do.

If I get board, I always have some other project to work on. This year my podcast Quantum Highway is going to be recorded and released! More on that later...

"If you really want to do something; no one can stop you. If you really don't want to do something; no one can help you."

~James A. Owen

Please keep coming back, Dear Readers. Thank you for your love and support. Leave me a comment on what you are doing in 2018. What books are you reading, movies you have seen, projects or classes you are taking, etc.

As always, your devoted writer,
~Cindy