Thank you, Mary! That means a lot. I’m rooting for you, too.

Thanks for the boost, Gabriella. It’s a help knowing others are facing the same issues. We reach a significantly improved skill level and then the learning curve suddenly shoots up out of sight. I mean, what the heck? Nothing to do but dig in and keep going. We’ve gone too far to turn back.

Woo-hoo you guys! We spend too much time toiling in obscurity not to share our rough patches when we can. That mountain top isn’t going anywhere.

So now I’m writing a story and I think I’m doing everything right. Everything I’ve learned. You know. Character development. Conflict. And, hey. I even have an outline. And you know what? I’ve started over three times, and I can’t seem to write this thing. It’s like the flame is on top of a glass mountain, and–no traction. I’m sure that if I ever figure this one out, it will be super, so I’m not giving up, even though there are some days when everything else on my plate seems more important than writing. This post came at just the right time to bolster my determination. Thank you, Kristen! You really hit the mark!

Trust me, Honey. Even I have to go back and read this stuff. We all need a good shot in the arm daily to keep pressing. Just honored to serve you guy and hope it blesses you tremendously.

Welcome to being a real writer 😀 .

We all have that fear no matter how successful. I am blessed to be friends with large brand name authors who we all believe have it made. Yet, they still face that same fear. What if I wrote all the good books in me? What if I fail to meet reader expectations? On and on and on. It’s learning to feel fear, recognize it then press through and take the wheel even when emotion is yelling it wants to drive 😉 .

*chuckle* oh, how deliciously painful, how wickedly nasty, runs the wound of bittersweet irony–for your growth-stages post was the very lecture, the final nail, that I took to heart. It was the road-side sign that guided my writing to the path less traveled. I took the leap of faith and committed my focus to these last two years of apprenticeship. Recognizing the importance of education, I eagerly dove into the deep end. Okay, so I went off the deep end,Flailing, and failing, to keep my head above water–there was so much opinionated education that I couldn’t turn around without slipping in a steaming,heaping load of the stuff.

Meanwhile, blank pages and dwindling sales remain Effectively uninspiring. i do realize that growth oscillates within the three stages you detailed in that post. I do get it–that education enhances the experience, though the period of blissful ignorance was, at least,justified by a trickle of income. My laptop sits idle while my desk suffocates beneath a growing mess of scribbled-on paper and wads of post-its. I must find a way to write through this paralyzing fear of adding just another brick to the wall of content.