At this year’s The Write Brunch, Amy Christine Parker was supposed to talk about building a positive writer mindset. She did that, and then she took it so many steps further.
To say Amy has been through a lot in her writing career would be the understatement of the decade. As she outlined in her talk, she began with what was supposed to be a bang: her book was a Penguin Random House darling, and she was given every possibly marketing advantage a debut author could dream of.
And then it all came crashing down. Her book released to crickets. And then the same thing happened again and again and again. As she put it, “I was promised all these wonderful things, and now I couldn’t see anything but the bottom. Every dream was ripped out of my hands, totally taken from me.”
Instead of giving up—which would’ve been understandable, given all she’d been through personally as well as professionally—Amy went to work. She put her head down and worked on getting her mindset straight.
These are our three big takeaways from Amy, but make no mistake—this is not an exhaustive list!
Takeaway #1: Embrace a growth mindset.
Like many writers (including yours truly), Amy is a perfectionist. That’s why those unfortunate happenings early in her career hit her so hard.
What made the difference for her was recognizing that progress is made through trying and learning, not achieving perfection (which doesn’t exist anyway). Truly, Amy embodies “growing through what you go through.”
As she put it, “All I’m looking for is progress, and I’m not going to beat myself up if I fall short. Some kind of progress. I can’t get worse if all I do is try to get better!”
What does trying to get better mean? It means setting goals and taking real steps to make them happen.
Takeaway #2: Take a structured approach to goals.
I loved hearing Amy’s approach to goal setting. She went in-depth on how she breaks down her goals, but the interesting part to me was that she doesn’t let herself set goals that are outside of her control—like making the New York Times bestseller list. She sets goals within her control, like writing a book.
And her goal setting doesn’t stop at her writing career! Much like you’ll find in The Write Gym Workbook, Amy sets goals under the umbrellas of craft education, professional development, household and family matters, and personal wellness, because “you need to take care of your whole world, and the writing will get better because you’ll feel better.”
“I need a plan in place so that even when I’m low, I can keep making strides.”
Takeaway #3: Make your writing journey an enjoyable one.
If you’re writing every day and wondering when the fun starts, here’s a newsflash from Amy: “One percent of the time as an author is the fun book events and the glamour. The rest of the time is being in my room and writing stories. That’s the part that you have to love and find fun and make sustainable.”
How did Amy suggest making your writing life more enjoyable? By finding and regularly engaging with your community. (Great news—we have a free online community, so if you join now, half the work is done!) Every writer makes it in their own way, but you can still take helpful hints from other writers’ journeys.
Did these takeaways resonate with you?
Then you will want to gain access to the replay now before it disappears! If you’ve been struggling at all with your mindset lately, then you’ll want to hear Amy’s words of wisdom for yourself! Luckily, if you missed it live, you can still catch the replay for a limited time.
If you’re in our online community, you’ll be able to find the replay under Classes/Events in the sidebar.
If you like the way Amy thinks…
As Write Brunch attendees heard, Amy has devoted countless hours perfecting her craft. She reads and listens to writing craft books every month, takes on projects like co-writing books to learn more about how others build their stories, and of course, she writes regularly. If you’d like a peek inside her writing brain to learn how she constructs plots that keep readers on the edge of their seats, you’re going to want to check out Plotting Your Prose!
This course will provide the tools to develop your ideas into fully realized pitch-worthy premises, create storyboards that will help guide your plot, characters, and setting in the right direction, and brainstorm scenes that will cover all the essential plot points every good story requires. Broken down into easily digestible short session modules and accompanied by a 45-page mini workbook filled with extended tips, tricks, helpful tech, and links to books and articles to extend your studies, this course will help both beginning and experienced novelists.
If you’re in our online community, you’ll be able to find the course under Classes/Events in the sidebar.
