by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart
When my ninth novel, The Man He Never Was, I learned a lesson critical to your and my success in the world of publishing. (And in life.)
Quick setup: Since ‘94 I’ve helped companies and individuals discover their brand, and then help them shout it to the world. I’ve never had a problem whatsoever promoting their awesomeness.
But when it comes to promoting myself? Not so easy.
Enter my oldest son, Taylor.
“You have to promote your novels, you have to promote The Rubart Writing Academy, you have to promote your voicework, you have to promote whatever it is you’re doing. You’ve done that for others your whole career, you have to do it for yourself.”
“Yeah. True,” I muttered. “But what about that verse that says, “Let another’s mouth praise you and not your own.”
Taylor ignored that and said, “If you don’t promote yourself, you’re being selfish.”
I spun toward him. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“How am I being selfish?”
Taylor drilled me with his gaze. “Do you believe your books and the Academy radically change people’s lives? Don’t you get emails from people saying that all the time?”
“Uh, well …”
“Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
“Then if you don’t tell people about who you are and what you do; if you don’t give them the chance to choose to engage or not engage, then you’re being selfish by keeping that light to yourself. And if you’re not promoting yourself because you don’t want people to think you’re bragging, then you’re again being selfish, because you’re still thinking about yourself and not them.”
I puffed out a laugh. “Wow, Taylor, why don’t you tell me what you really think?”
Don’t you hate it when your kids are right? No, actually we don’t. Not if we want to grow as people.
Taylor was dead on right.
What About You?
Where are you hiding? Where do you need to step out of the shadows? Where do you need to step fully into who you were made to be and not shy away from it? What do you need to shout from the rooftops?
Where do you need to press into your gifts? Where do you need to let people know more about the path you’re on?
Understand something: You’re not doing it for yourself, but for them, because you have light and life to offer them that they desperately need.
I’m working on being less selfish. Will you join me?
How Do You Stand Up for Yourself When It Means Losing Everything?
Allison Moore is making it. Barely. The Seattle architecture firm she started with her best friend is struggling, but at least they’re free from the games played by the corporate world. She’s gotten over her divorce. And while her dad’s recent passing is tough, their relationship had never been easy.
Then the bomb drops. Her dad was living a secret life and left her mom in massive debt.
As Allison scrambles to help her mom find a way out, she’s given a journal, anonymously, during a visit to her favorite coffee shop. The pressure to rescue her mom mounts, and Allison pours her fears and heartache into the journal.
But then the unexplainable happens. The words in the journal, her words, begin to disappear. And new ones fill the empty spaces—words that force her to look at everything she knows about herself in a new light.
Ignoring those words could cost her everything . . . but so could embracing them.
James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man’s body. He thinks he’s still young enough to water ski like a madman and dirt bike with his two grown sons. He’s the best-selling, Christy BOOK of the YEAR, CAROL, INSPY, and RT Book Reviews award winning author of ten novels and loves to send readers on journeys they’ll remember months after they finish one of his stories. He’s also a branding expert, audiobook narrator, co-host of the Novel Marketing podcast, and co-founder with his son, Taylor, of the Rubart Writing Academy. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in Washington state.