by James L. Rubart, @jameslrubart
During the first half of 2016, my friend, Jesse asked me, “When are you going to do your own thing?”
I eloquently replied, “Huh?”
“Instead of just teaching at other people’s conferences, why don’t you do your own thing?”
Six months later, as my son, Taylor and I held our annual meeting about the year that was and the 12 months to come, he asked the same question.
“Tell you what, Taylor. You do it with me and I’m in.”
Thus, The Rubart Writing Academy was born.
What a ride it was.
Yeah, was, past tense.
As I type these words, we’re having a Fire Sale on our online courses. By the time you read these words, the sale will be over and The Rubart Writing Academy will be no more.
Am I sad? I’m not sure. Actually, I am sure. I feel good about it, a peace. It was time. Taylor’s business is taking off like a car with unlimited nitro boosters and I’ve been feeling for a while that the Academy’s season was over and that God has new things for me.
This is a skill I’m not adept at. (Letting go.) I’m good at sensing a season has come to a close, but I’m often lousy at pulling the trigger. I’m the guy looking for the endless summer even though I know it doesn’t exist. So I hang on longer than I should. This time (with Taylor’s help) I got out at the right moment.
A river flows. The water moves past and new water comes. If it was frozen, it wouldn’t be a river as we normally think about it. We have to allow our waters to move.
What about you? Are you hanging onto something in your writing journey you need to let go of? Move on from?
As a mentor of mine was fond of saying, “You can’t do A if you’re doing B. And if you’re looking back at B, you won’t even see A.”
So take some time. Listen to the Spirit. Listen to your spouse or friend or mentor. Be willing to embrace the whisper that says, “I have something else for you. Can’t wait for you to discover it. But you have to leave ____ behind. It’s time.”
May your letting go, and discovering what is coming, be a wondrous journey.
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.