Learning to be Content with the Writing Life We Have Right Now

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt

The writing life is one of constant evaluation. We all set goals for ourselves, most of them familiar:

• Finish a manuscript. 
• Attend a writers conference.
• Pitch a book idea to editors and agents.
• Land a contract.
• Win an award.

After we’ve set our goals, we do the work needed to achieve them. And that’s when we constantly ask ourselves the question, “How am I doing?” Sometimes we’re successful. Sometimes our dreams even happen faster than we imagined. Other times? We do the work … and we wait. And then there are the times when our success shifts, seemingly disappears, like when our publishing house closes or an anticipated follow-up contract doesn’t materialize. 

We may not have everything we’ve hoped and dreamed about as a writer. Reality is, most of us are always striving for something else, something more. 

Today, let’s stop for a moment and consider this question: What do we have?

Our dissatisfaction with what we don’t have can cause us to overlook all the things we do have. 

Maybe we’re one of those writers who hasn’t landed an agent yet.We’ve yet to move from “pre-published” to “published” author. What we do have is time. We’re not under deadline pressure, so we have lots of time to work on our craft, to attend conferences, to finish our manuscripts and to, yes, rewrite our rough drafts. 

Maybe we’re one of those writers who has heard back from an editor – and the answer was “no, thank you.”What we do have is opportunity. We get to try again. We get to step back, catch our breath, and to reevaluate what we’re doing to make our writing better.

Maybe we’re one of those writers who hasn’t finaled in a contest, who hasn’t won an award.What we do have is a choice. We can choose to celebrate others when they win. We can choose to remember “Contentment does not come from achievement.”(Paul Henderson (1943-), Canadian former professional hockey player) We can settle in our hearts – now and in the future – what our hope and our contentment is anchored to. Let’s choose wisely.

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Award-winning author Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Having authored nine contemporary romance novels and novellas, Beth's first women's fiction novel with Tyndale House Publishers, Things I Never Told You, released May 2018. Moments We Forget, book two in the Thatcher Sisters Series, releases May 2019. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Novel Rocket and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. Visit Beth at bethvogt.com.