My Wonderful Local Writing Group and My Foremost Advice to All Authors

I met with my local writing group this week. It was wonderful. Having a home away from home that nurtures your writing addiction and fosters your creativity and encourages your every step, as well as your leaps and bounds, is priceless, folks. So find one for you in your area.

But this post is about something else.

I have over two thousand e-books on my Kindle, waiting to be read. I hope to read more when I'm "retired," whenever that is. Since I'm a serious workaholic, I don't see me retiring. Regardless, even though I am a copy editor by day, by night I'm a reader. It's not uncommon for me to read two hundred books in a year, on top of the sixty or so copyediting projects that I handle each year (which I read through twice completely, doubling the original document's word count). I read a lot. All the time.

And those two thousand or so e-books on my Kindle are a sort of safety net for me.

I fear running out of good books to read.

Now that is my main message here.

So, as I told the four new attendees (yay!) at our writing group meeting last night, don't hesitate to write what is on your heart. Go with your gut. It doesn't matter what the latest booming genre seems to be, as that will change. It doesn't matter what the best-selling authors may write about. As they change too.

I believe each author has its own designated readership in the world, just waiting for those books to be written, to be published, to reach their eager hands. No one author appeals to every person on this planet. You only need your particular readers to find you, to read your stuff. So don't worry. I believe the appropriate matching of the readers to authors happens over time. So just write. And write some more.

Write YOUR message, YOUR story, YOUR voice, YOUR soul, YOUR uniqueness.

That's today's message, which my own intuition pushed me to write about in this post. And this message is for authors at all stages of your career, whether just starting out or long into this wonderful and sometimes maddening profession.

That's all for now. Gotta run. I have copyediting projects awaiting me, akin to the unread books on my Kindle, which are both like Christmas every day, with packages for me to open to see what lies within.

Have a great week/weekend, y'all!

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Welcome to My World, Where Every Day is Saturday

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

https://deniseannbarker.com

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

Five Regrets to Avoid Over Your Lifetime

I found this courtesy of StumbleUpon. For the full article, click here: http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/5-surprising-life-regrets-that-you-can-easily-avoid.html. You may need to sign up to review more than once.

However, for the recap, I'm providing this handy list:

• Too much effort in pleasing others [especially when to the exclusion of self]
• Too much pointless worry [when does your worry ever manifest itself?]
• Too much acquiring of stuff [the important things cost nothing]
• Too little taking care of your physical health [our health is actually our first wealth]
• Too little travel [does armchair researching of faraway places count?]

I happen to agree with all, especially the first two bullet points and the fourth.

Don't wait until the final days of your life to address these issues. We should all hope to die peacefully in bed while asleep (or however you envision it) and with no regrets, no forgiveness due anyone (including ourselves), and with overflowing love filling our hearts, minds, and souls.

God bless us, one and all.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

A Quick Self-Esteem Boost for Authors

Earlier today I bumped my Kindle Boards'  feeds with this short note. Thought I would add it here into the data stream as well. Enjoy:

Get rid of distractions, diseases. That means paper clutter, mental clutter, TV clutter. That means toxic people, toxic jobs and toxic foods. Focus on what you want. Resources are not limited. Note the word "source" in "resource." You have within you what you need. Don't let external measurements (noting lack of time, money, awards, etc.) deter you from using the timeless gifts that only you can access—those within your heart, soul, mind. But don't be selfish. Share those with others.

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks