The fundamentals of growth, in any form, is pushing outside of your comfort zone. We’ve all heard it, we’ve all tried it, we all need to do more of it. But not just anything that scares you, something that also has meaning. Something that will add to the person you are. Something that will steer you towards the person you want to be. Productive fear still gives you that bit of adrenaline rush that we all love so much.
So what did I do? Well, I’ve finished my round of edits and now have released my first novel to a group of beta readers to critique my hard work, my labor of love, my baby creation– and have asked them to give it to me honest!
You may be thinking, “How is that scary? You’ve already self-published four books.” Yeah, I did. But a lot of things were different that round. For starters, they were initially intended souly as gifts to those they were written about. The feedback and sales that followed warms my heart, but I never intended to push any marketing for them. Also, I never used beta readers for those books. I probably should have, but I had a deadline, and again they weren’t meant for the masses. Lastly, I self-published those books, and to be honest, you can throw anything out there and self-publish.
This time, the novel is intended to hopefully kickstart my career as a writer. It is the one that I plan to pitch to countless agents, and pray that my piece catches their eyes. I’ve opened up my hard work to other’s prying eyes to hear the bold truth. There is a chance that they could hate it. There is a chance that they could love it. I’m scared to find that it’s not good enough to move forward, and equally scared to hear that it is. But all of these emotions jumbled inside also fill me with excitement!
Either way, the next step is in motion. One way or another, this will make me grow into the person I aspire to be. ❤
Laura Stephens 