Remember in the Sound of Music when after all the Von Trapp children did everything to overcome their disappointment after discovering Maria had returned to the Abby? They sang and tried to brave their feelings only to have the smallest one, Gretta, utter in despair, “Why don’t I feel better?” That same sigh is all too common when writers are disappointed. Even when they try to grin and bear it, they still wind up with a heavy hearts. Your hopes lifted your spirits to an all-time high, only to toss you out of the plane without a parachute. When you plummeted back to earth, you emotionally crashed and burned. Please don’t agree with me and stop reading now. Listen to your heart. Fire in your soul, whether it is from […]
Read the RestArchive | Reba Hoffman RSS feed for this section
Dealing With Disappointment, Part One: Ouch! That Hurts!
Many of you recently attended the ACFW annual conference in Dallas. Those who did pinned hopes on getting some sort of exciting news or opportunity. MBT Voices overall received overwhelmingly positive news. So why am I writing this? Because with the sweet comes the bitter. I’ve dealt with and helped people through disappointment for decades. There are some things I’ve seen in the circumstance that contributes to the emotion of disappointment that I want to share. Having Unrealistic Expectations. Truly there are novice novelists who go to their first conference expecting that the biggest publishers in the industry will stand in line to snatch up their masterpiece…that hasn’t quite been finished. Ok, it really hasn’t been written yet, but with a contract in hand, they could stay up late one […]
Read the Rest
Building Your Tribe, Part 3: Brick and Mortar Not Required
Hopefully by now you understand why you need a tribe. I trust you’ve made the decision to begin building one, or to grow the one you already have. But there is one little gnat buzzing around in the back of your head. It’s the time thing… Again. You say you don’t have time to devote to constructing a successful tribe. You schedule tweets and update Facebook. You sit and wait because you know you’ll soon have to respond or retweet. After all, tribal dynamics require reciprocation. Right? It’s NOT about the thing. Or the task, or the 2×4’s. It’s about the members. You know, those people who just love you and want the best for you? Tribes are relationships, not a hard hat zone with a fence around it. Building […]
Read the Rest
