by Angela Ruth Strong, @AngelaRStrong
I hear from writers all the time who never actually submit their work for publication. They’re afraid of failure. I don’t feel like I battle that fear very often anymore because I have failed so much and so spectacularly that I’m willing to fall on my face a few more times if one of those times gets me past the finish line of my goals. In fact, I should probably have a little more fear. But this blog is for those who err on the opposite side.
If fear of failure is what’s holding you back, I want to offer the five benefits for your consideration.
- Failure helps you not take success for granted. When you have to work for a win and the battle is hard fought, victory tastes so much sweeter. You don’t only become a champion, you become an overcomer.
- You learn it doesn’t change your identity. When a writer sells a book or wins an award, they’re still the same writer. Their work is still the same quality as before the sale or win. There is a difference in recognition but not in who they are as a person. The same is true for rejection. It doesn’t define you. Neither failure nor success are final.
- It teaches you to give God the glory. There is an element of luck/blessing in success. You can be a great writer, but getting your work on the right editor’s desk at the right time is out of your control. Once you’ve failed enough, you realize the credit for achievements is not all yours.
- You improve at taking risks. There is risk in pursuing a dream. There are no sure things. It’s safer not to try. But after you’ve failed a few times, you don’t fear the fall as much. You shrug off a few skinned knees as worth the view from the top, and you can better evaluate which route is best for you to take.
- You develop empathy for others. Because you know the struggle, you know what others are going through when they fail. You can be encouraged from experience. And perhaps this empathy is what makes me want to be your biggest cheerleader.
Failure is simply part of the journey. If you’re down, get back up. Learn from your mistakes. Become a better person through it. If you’re still alive, your story isn’t over.
I challenge you to take the next step toward your writing dreams. Find a critique partner, attend a conference, or hit send on your submission. You won’t know what you can do until you try. And you will never succeed unless you overcome your fear of failure.
In a world full of happily-ever-after love, Meri Newberg feels like the last young woman on the planet to be single, at least in her Christian friend group. So when she’s handed a strange present at the latest wedding–a 1950s magazine article of “ways to get a husband”–she decides there’s nothing to lose by trying out its advice. After all, she can’t get any more single, can she?
Her brother’s roommate sees the whole thing as a great opportunity. Not to fall in love–Kai Kamaka has no interest in the effort a serious relationship takes. No, this is a career jump start. He talks Meri into letting him film every silly husband-catching attempt for a new online show. If it goes viral, his career as a cameraman will be made.
When Meri Me debuts, it’s an instant hit. People love watching her lasso men on street corners, drop handkerchiefs for unsuspecting potential beaus, and otherwise embarrass herself in pursuit of true love. But the longer this game goes on, the less sure Kai is that he wants Meri to snag anyone but him. The only problem is that he may not be the kind of husband material she’s looking for . . .
Angela Ruth Strong sold her first Christian romance novel in 2009 then quit writing romance when her husband left her. Ten years later, God has shown her the true meaning of love, and there’s nothing else she’d rather write about. Her books have since earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been optioned for film, won the Cascade Award, and been Amazon best-sellers. She also writes non-fiction for SpiritLed Woman. To help aspiring authors, she started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho, and she teaches as an expert online at WRITE THAT BOOK.