You Are Not Alone

By Jim Rubart
Co-owner, He Blogs, She Blogs, LLC

You're not alone.

• In the fear of sitting down with an agent.
• In the fear of putting your idea in front of an editor.
• In the fear of laying in front of them words you've taken years to craft.

Why are we afraid? Because these people are the gods of the publishing world. They can send us soaring to the heavens or crush our dream with one word: "No."

But that's a lie, isn't it?

There is One who is in control. One who holds our destiny in His hands.

For many years my fear kept me from showing my writing to anyone. I'd dreamed of being a writer since grade school. I subscribed to Writer's Digest, I bought books on how to write fiction, non-fiction, how to create characters, and how to write screenplays. And I wrote. In secret. Short stories, ideas for novels, screenplays. I went to half-day writing workshops in the Seattle area, but I never allowed what I wrote to be read by another.

In 1992 I wrote a Seinfeld script with my best friend on a whim. Our attempt wasn't serious; it was a bit of a joke, so I could risk it being read. The script ended up in the hands of David Isaacs, one of the more prolific TV writers of the past thirty years. He said we were talented and should pursue writing for TV. I didn't. I kept the dream buried.

What I finally admitted around 2000, is as long as I didn't take concrete action on my dream, it could always exist. If I pursued the dream and was rejected as a writer, then I had nothing. No safety net to fall back on. My greatest dream would be finished.

Are you scared? Terrified your dream will die if you fling it out for others to see?

You are not alone.

It's time to step into your fear and meet the others who walk alongside you. Its time to know if God put the dream in you, it cannot die.

Every writer has been where you are. It’s why going to a gathering like the Florida Christian Writers’ Conference is critical. Every successful writer has fought through rejection, through wondering if the dream can ever come true, through doubts about their talent.

At conference like FCWC you'll meet scads of writers. You'll laugh with them, hear their stories, be inspired, encouraged, and discover for yourself, you are not alone.