by Dan Walsh, @DanWalshAuthor

This is my first post here. Appreciate the invite, glad to be among friends. For those of you who don’t know my writing story, I’ll just say this: after a fairly successful stretch with 13 novels published traditionally, I transitioned to writing as an indie at the end of 2014. Since then, I’ve added 7 more novels to my repertoire, all published as an indie.

Although it was a little scary at first being out on my own, I’m actually doing better now than before in every respect, including financially. We thought it might be helpful if my posts primarily dealt with life in the indie publishing world.

I chose as my first post a topic I’ve had to grow comfortable with these past few years. That is, learning to live with uncertainty. I don’t like uncertainty. I prefer walking on a well-worn path where all the big things in life are nailed down (and most of the small things, too). I had that as a traditionally-published author in a major publishing house for 6 years.

During that time, I had very few decisions to make. The books I’d write were agreed to in advance; the money I’d be paid was clearly established (even called an advance). Extra money came in twice a year in the form of royalties. The publisher’s marketing and publicity departments worked out an entire strategy to promote my books, with little input from me. They’d contact me for promotional events they had already set up (all I had to do was show up or phone in).

I used to tell folks I felt like a “kept man.”

Being an indie author is nothing like that. In fact, I’d say it’s the polar opposite of that. Nothing is nailed down. Nothing is crystal clear. There is no well-worn path. In fact, I’ve only been at this for 3 years and the path I started on is not the same path I’m walking on now. I’ve easily faced 3 or 4 major forks in the road so far, where neither option seemed particularly better than the other. Big things — the kind of things that really matter — seem to change in the indie world every few months (people in the indie world talk about the “good old days” when referring to 2012).

The thing is, I don’t like change. I don’t like uncertainty.

But here’s something else I can say (with almost absolute certainty): You don’t like it, either. None of us do. We like things that are predictable, things we can count on.

How do I know this? Because it’s in the Bible. You know what animal God compares us to more often than any other? Sheep. That’s right, sheep. Sheep don’t like change. They don’t like uncertainty. They like things to stay the same. They crave routine.

I saw one very clear example of this every Sunday as a pastor. We never assigned anyone a specific seat. But every week, everyone sat in the same place, almost without exception. Why is this? What is that thing that compels us to want to sit in the same place every week? We’d have a guest come in early, wind up “stealing” someone else’s seat. You should’ve seen the look on the church member’s face when they went to their spot and found it occupied by a total stranger.

I’ve seen this same thing in writers’ conferences and workshops. People pick a seat in the first session then, almost as if compelled, try to sit in the same seat for the next three days.

We are sheep.

We like routine. We like things simple, nailed down. That’s why this Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson is one of my favorites. What makes it so funny is that we instinctively all know, “It’s not true. We do have to be just sheep.”

It’s what we are.

I suspect everything I’ve just said is true whether you’re writing as an indie or traditionally published (it seems the whole publishing world is in flux right now).

So…how do I handle my writing life with all this uncertainty as part of the package? How have I learned to “be okay with uncertainty?”

The answer is simple. A simple answer for simple sheep.

Now, and really this is how it’s always been, I must trust the Good Shepherd. I am not alone, down here fending for myself (and neither are you). I am still a kept man (a kept sheep?). The Lord is faithful and able to manage well all the details of my life (and yours too). Even when I sleep. Even when I worry (“if we are faithless, He remains faithful”).

And that’s how I’m okay with all this uncertainty.

Dan has just released the 2nd Edition of his Carol Award Winning novel, The Deepest Waters (inspired by a true story). Available now on Kindle for $3.99 and Free (for the first time) on Kindle Unlimited. Here’s the back cover blurb:

For John and Laura Foster, what began as a fairytale honeymoon in 1857 aboard the steamship SS Vandervere, quickly turns into a nightmare. A terrible hurricane strikes and the grand ship begins to sink. Just before it goes under, a rescue ship appears on the horizon. But it only has room enough to save the women and children. Laura soon finds herself sailing away toward New York city on a ship filled with orphans and widows, to meet John’s family whom she’s never met. Desperate for a miracle, Laura braces herself to face life alone.