For weeks it seemed like the dead blank stare of one of my friends kept me from moving forward with my book. I couldn’t understand it, that I had reached out to at least three people regarding my book or author business, and not one had responded to me. All I wanted to do was either tell them about the book, get some professional feedback, or get some advice. I was met with silence all three times in a short period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, this had been enough to keep me from moving forward for a time, not to mention the temporarily busy life that made time for writing even harder. Was there anything wrong with everyone not answering a single word to me? No, perhaps there was something about how I said something or what I said that made it awkward. It could have been many things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Was my book so terrible that it didn’t deserve a response?” This is a question that haunted me. I needed feedback from someone, a touching point to show me I was doing okay. One morning I opened my email on my phone and filled out a questionnaire to see if I might fit a program for authors. The following week was almost consumed with deliberation over the matter; should I really go this route to learn the craft and business of writing for three years? But this would mean less time to work on my current project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consultations of that week helped me regain my focus. “No, the problem was not that my book was terrible. Yes, I needed to finish this book, Lord willing” were the silent, unconscious reasonings I made. I would not join the program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developing a thick skin can start at any level. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For weeks it seemed like the dead blank stare of one of my friends kept me from moving forward with my book. I couldn’t understand it, that I had reached out to at least three people regarding my book or author business, and not one had responded to me. All I wanted to do was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[78,83,132],"class_list":["post-880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-writing","tag-creative-writing","tag-developing-a-thick-skin","tag-inspiration-to-keep-writing","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n