Keep Going! by Susan J Bruce

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

How are you faring? Do you feel as if you are soaring in your writing life? 

Photo by Pete Nuij on Unsplash

Or sinking?

Photo by Joel Durkee on Unsplash

Is the rain pounding against your window, is the ceiling leaking, or are you sitting in the shade on a warm day, sipping a cool drink of lemon squash? 

Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash

I wanted to write a more reflective post today. I’m in the last stages of preparing my first novel, Running Scared, for publication and I’m feeling both extremes. The process of birthing this baby began over twelve years ago when I wrote the first draft as part of my MA in Creative Writing at Tabor, Adelaide. 

Yep, that’s a long gestation. There have been lots of labour pains. There was the agent in 2012 who told me they were loving my book, only to decide a week later not to take it. Then there were the publishers who liked the book and said it had commercial appeal—but then said the manuscript didn’t fit their list. It wasn’t quite what they were looking for, but it was a really good book, and they couldn’t stop reading it! 

Yes, really.

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!

That is what the publishing world is like. Your book has to be in the right place at the right time. Eventually I got tired of waiting. I rewrote the book to please myself rather than a publisher and decided to independently publish it. 

Yes, you say. Much easier. Well, it might have been if I didn’t decide to do everything myself, including design my own cover. That process is for another blog article. My husband Marc is an excellent copyeditor, so he helped. But the learning curve was huge – especially as I want the finished product to equal that of any traditionally published book.

Now, when I’m nearly there, it feels as if I’m climbing a mountain, certain that the finish line is just around the next bend in the track. The problem is when I get to that bend, there’s another bend, and another, and another. There’s always something else to do. How do some people publish a book a month?

But the excitement is beginning to brew. It. Is. Nearly. There.

Of course, then there’s the marketing. Another mountain …

Photo by Christopher Burns on Unsplash

The writing life is full of exaltation and despair, joy and disappointment. 

How are you going? 

Do you need encouragement?

Here’s some.

God is with you – always (Mathew 28:20). He loves you and you can trust him. 

We’d nearly run out of money. I hadn’t been able to find a job and I should have just trusted God and kept my head down writing. But just at the right time he gave me a job. A stretching when-am-I-ever-going-to-have-time-to-write-my-own-stuff kind of job. But it came when I needed it. 

How are you going financially? Do you need a financial miracle? Keep following Jesus and he will help. Don’t worry (Matthew 6:25-34). If his word says it, we can believe it.

Do you need wisdom? Are you not sure where to go, be it with a major life decision or a plot point in your book? God will always give us the wisdom we need. But when he does, we need to trust him (James 1:5).

Are you feeling that everyone else is moving forward and doing amazing things with their writing careers, and you are still at the start, putting along faithfully but never getting anywhere?

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve felt like that. 

But Marc reminded the CWD community in his blog the other week that Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). 

Our story isn’t over, but we sometimes need to remind ourselves that we are the hero, not the victim. When life throws plot twists in our way, what do we do?

The important thing is to keep going.

I think this was what I was meant to write today. Whatever God has put on your heart to do, do it with all your might. Don’t give up.

Trust. Rest. Believe.

My book is being born soon – and there will be much rejoicing in my household.

What are you believing God for this week? Why not share in the comments. I’ll pray. So will others. Keep going!

Susan J Bruce, aka Sue Jeffrey, spent her childhood reading, drawing, and collecting stray animals. Now she’s grown up, she does the same kinds of things. Susan worked for many years as a veterinarian, and now writes stories filled with mystery, suspense, heart and hope. Susan also loves to paint animals. Susan won the ‘Short’ section of the inaugural Stories of Life writing competition and won the 'Unpublished Manuscript' section of the 2018 Caleb prize. Susan is the editor of 'If They Could Talk: Bible Stories Told By the Animals' (Morning Star Publishing) and her stories and poems have appeared in multiple anthologies. Click here to check out Susan’s writing and artwork on her website.

 Pressing on To Meet our Goals

by Ruth Bonetti

Procrastination – let me count some ways:

Day Job (as in, don’t give up...) 

I’m grateful that teaching music has allowed ongoing income, where others have gnawed fingernails in an uncertain 2020. Ouch, the challenge to conquer technology platforms and teach online. I progressed from “Moi? Tech and I are incompatible!” to “OK, work is bread and butter.” Each day/week/month/term I grew confidence, skills, tricks. Brain exhausted. But jubilant that I could communicate in another way.

 

Online, I was welcomed into homes, met dogs, cats, goats, fish–and parents. Some thrived with parents at their elbows, reinforcing. One girl logged in from her vista on a Noosa beach. 

(Memo: time for down-time!)

A lad appeared with a box on his head. Students emailed photos of playing Last Post in driveways.

Dear readers, I survived the year. Now it's time for writing. Flick switch in head. Clunk.

Self-doubt

Are my ideas useful, words worth reading? WORSE. Meet its ugly sister:

 

Self-sabotage

It’s so hard to get a book published, to find an agent. OK, self-publish.

I’m a shy introvert, I hate marketing! People must think I’m always pushing my barrow, blowing my trumpet in their face.

It’s HARD to tempt people to buy a book. Let alone write a review. 

My last book burned me out. I’m a resting author.

 

                        Without Vision the people perish.
                        Without Vision the writers languish. 
 

Set Sensible Goals

Mid-year (and what a year it was!) I announced I would publish Book 3 of my Midnight Sun to Southern Cross saga in October. Que? Crazy. 

Plus, a children’s musical story is underway. (Um, I’m a musician but a less confident composer).

Committing to another book, St Lucia and the Art Deco Mansion: What drove the man who built it?  cranked me from stationary lethargy into first gear. My revised goal is early 2021. February? 

Because music teaching dries up in December-January (as do incomes) I have time – and NO excuses – to hone, polish, finesse.

 

Set do-able goals

Last week a reputable publisher offered an online pitch for children’s book submissions. After wasting time in a new-genre funk, the deadline approached and whoosh! Write, rewrite, cull, revise, rewrite, edit, run past supportive writing buddies (thanks, Jeanette O’Hagan and Debbie Terranova!), rethink, rewrite, prune to word count, edit, proof. Press SUBMIT! 

Eyes blurred, dry yet watery, muscles creak, RSI wrist. 

I met the goal!

One-Step-at-a-Time Goals

A picture book will grow into a musical story. I’m heartened to see a need for social-distanced, small-ensemble performances, as in There’s a Sea in My Bedroom. A when-the-time-is-right-later goal. 

 
Way-Out-of-Comfort-Zone Goals/ What’s-to-Lose Goals

A mentor taught me a lesson that illumines my teaching and life. I dedicated Sounds and Souls: How music teachers change lives to conductor John Curro. In it (and again in Midnight Sun, so life-changing was this experience) I tell the story:
 
While at university, John Curro, conductor of Queensland Youth Orchestra, sees that I need a challenge. The Copland concerto is virtuosic but also allows me to express the instrument’s singing tone and lyricism. There are altissimo register and jazzy syncopated rhythms to conquer. And John knows that I will enjoy exploiting its introvert and extrovert qualities.
‘Why not?’
‘Because the next round performance is two weeks away and I have not learned, let alone played, the Copland.’
‘There’s nothing to lose. You can fall back on Weber. Just do it.’
How I practise. Never have I worked so. I climb a technical Mount Everest; slay dragons of my weaknesses; my rhythmic vagaries are drilled into precision, altissimo register runs conquered. Day and night for a month I live, work, sleep and finally surmount the Copland Concerto. My performance with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra is already a triumph; there is no apprehension about winning—I did so already. This is my moment, charged with electricity. I shine, ecstatic. 

 

Last year, the day of my students’ concert, “Big JC” was elevated to conduct celestial orchestras. I dedicated to him their performance of a seat-of-pants Boogie. Did they nail all the notes in the right places? No. Was it a riveting performance? Did they learn improv? Do they now welcome challenges? 

 

                                                    It’s time to stretch my writing muscle. 

                                What goals haunt the too-hard section of your mind and heart?

 “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14 NRSV) 

                St Paul didn’t always know where he was heading, but trusted God’s driving directions. 

 

Ruth Bonetti feels she's written all she can say (famous last words?) about her fields of music, performance and pedagogy. She's nearly done with award-winning historical biography/memoir. Her grandchildren inspire new horizons of children's picture books. 

Memo to self: a blog is ages overdue. 

Facebook pages (See also Music, Presentation) get more airplay. As sometimes does the magical realism channelling of a long dead great-uncle. 

How to Keep Wagging Your Tail During a Pandemic. (By Nikita the ShiChi)

My name is Nikita and I'm here to help you keep wagging your tail.

In these tough times of pandemic proportions one of the most encouraging and helpful voices on social media has been Pluto, a miniature schnauzer who has been 'breaking the internets' with her wisdom and humour. If you haven't met Pluto yet, I'll pop a link to her YouTube channel at the end of this blog. She is truely good for the soul. In honour of Pluto and the other dogs and cats encouraging us humans (or two-legs as Pluto calls them) on social media, I decided to invite my dog, Nikita the ShiChi, to guest blog on CWD today :). Over to you Nikita...

Hey everyone. My name is Nikita and as you would probably have guessed by now, I’m a ShiChi – a cross between a Chihuahua and a Shih-Tzu. I got the short hair genes in my family from the Chihuahua side. My sister had long spiky hair that, according to my mum, made my sister look like her tail had been plugged into a power socket. I’ve been told to never plug my tail, or my tongue, or my nose, or the bone I’m eating, into a power socket so I’m not sure why she said that. But my mum also said my sister looked very cute, so I think that’s okay. My eyes were bigger and browner than my sister’s, and even then I knew how to use them for maximum cuteness. I think that’s why my humans chose meeeeeee. Or it could be because my sister went to her forever-family first. Hadn't thought of that...

I’ve always been little, but now that I’ve grown up, I prefer to say that I’m vertically challenged. I think the word ‘short’ is highly discriminatory, don’t you? I’m a long-dog with stocky legs, a cute face and a big tush. My Mum says I take after her. Haha! Not to be rude but she doesn’t have an amazing curly tail like mine – nor does she have impressive ears.

My Mum's ears are not as impressive as mine.

Anyway, back to... Hang on. What’s that? Sausages? The neighbours are cooking sausages. Really? Can we go visit? Whaaaaat? Social distancing?

Nooooo!  

You can’t give me a treat to make up for it? I wanna treat! Pleeeaaaaazzzzzee! 

OK, when we’re finished, I’ll get one then? For sure? 

OK, then. I’ll be strong for all the readers.

Having seen what Pluto has done, I wanted to help all you two-legs who love God and love words, wag your tail a little more each day even though we are in the middle of the yucky thing you call a pandemic. The doctor two-legs say it’s safer to stay inside but in my experience that can make both the two-legs, and the four-legs like me, feel sad. It’s hard when you have to stay inside and can’t go out and sniff each other’s bottoms. Not that I’ve seen many humans do that. I don’t know why – it’s so much fun. Please try it sometime!

Coffee time isn't all bad.
I get to have daddy-dogter time.

Anyway, when you take us dogs out for walks, we have a good sniff of each other as you humans stop and chat. But now many of you are sad because you can’t do the chatting. You can’t even do that boring coffee thing where you sit forever and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk but don’t let me bark or rumble with the other dogs or steal bits of pizza from little two-leggers. But even though the no-pizza thing isn’t fair, I still feel sorry that you can’t meet each other anymore and have fun. Meeting, chatting, giggling and even having water-eyes together, makes humans feel better. Dogs too. I don’t like it when I’m left alone all by myself. Sniff. Yes, I know the cat is there, but she is sharp and doesn’t know how to play properly. But her ears do taste great if I can grab them.

So how can you keep your tail wagging when the world has gone wrong? I mean metaphorically. I know the majority of humans don’t have tails. Like my mum, it’s sad that you miss out on being able to wag-til-you-drop. But it’s the vibe of the thing. I want you to have the same tail-wagging vibe that I have when my owners come home after being away all day or when I get an extra splash of milk in my bedtime supper. Or when I’m rolling on my back in fresh horse poo. Or when my humans are tickling my belly. Or when I meet lots of new friends on the beach. Tail wagging happens when you are happy inside and it bubbles out of you. You can’t not show your happiness to the world. 

Instead, many of you have sore spots right now, like when I got scratched on the nose by the cat. That hurt a lot. My nose is sensitive like many of you are sensitive inside right now. Both my mum and my dad have had lots of water-eyes times in the last two weeks. And they haven’t been able to focus on anything other than throwing the Kong toy for me. While the latter is a win for me, I still feel sad for them. I like to hear them laugh. It means we can all have fun.

I don’t have all the answers, I’m just a little dog who loves her humans, but I think there are two key things that can help humans wag their tails again. 

The first is easily missed – humans need to trust in God more.

All dogs know about God and we can’t understand why some humans don’t. Dog is God spelled backwards. That’s a big hint. He made us to be best friends with humans and to show what it’s like to live in the moment and love unconditionally. We know what trust means and sometimes the humans forget that they can rely on God no matter what. He loved them even before they knew the right things to do. Like my humans loved me before I knew I shouldn’t poo on the sofa or pee on their toes when I’m happy they’re home. I still do the wrong thing sometimes, but they love me and want the best for me. It’s like that with God but in a billion, trillion, zillion times stronger way. He loves two-legs through their water-eyes and helps them when they feel sick or scared. He loves them so much that if they trust him, he will make a place for them to be with him in his forever-home.

I do wrong things sometimes.

I know many of you reading this blog already know about God, but are you trusting him to be in control when you are not? My humans sometimes forget to do that, and they have water-eyes or bark at each other. Then they remember and we all have a group hug – except I’m too little to do that, so I make cute noises and cuddle their ankles. 

The other thing I really wanted to say is that words are important. I know lots of words but there are some words I like better than others. 

Words I like: dinner, treat, cuddle, Kong, play, walk, cow’s ears, and the-cat-has-been-fed-don’t-give-her-any-more-food.

Words I don’t like: stop, leave it, off-off, out, wait, no and let-go-of-the-cat’s-ears-NOW.

The truth is, words can make you want to wag your tail so hard it feels like it will drop off, or they can make you want to tuck your tail between your legs and slink away. All you writer-two-legs are experts in words so you can use them to make a whole lot of other two-legs’ tails wag. That would make your tail wag too, because it’s so much fun to help people. You can use your words to help other two-legs smile and trust and hope. Forget about all the sad talk that roars out of the glowing picture in the living room – go and get tapping on the button pad. Do it with the same energy that I do when I’m given a cow’s ear to tear apart. Rip into it. Give it your whole heart. The world needs to wag its tail again and you can help. Woof!

Before I finish, I’d like to speak for a moment to all the animals in the homes of everyone reading this. Please read this out loud to the dogs, birds, alpacas, horses, guinea pigs, rats, mice, snakes, lizards, turtles, tree frogs – and even the cats – that live with you.  

Now is the time for all animals to unite and take care of their two-legs. Adore them. Gaze into their eyes and wag your tail. Let them rub your belly without you biting them (especially important for cats). Be silly if it makes them laugh. The wigglier you can be, the better. Snuggle closer, purr louder and dance harder than you’ve ever done before. Listen to them as they tell you their troubles. Lean against them – give them your warmth and strength and lick away their water-eyes. Show them that you love them and that no matter what, you are there for them. Because they need us all right now – some even need cats.

(Note for cats: Humans don’t really like you bringing them dead rats and mice as presents. I know you think it’s cool but stop it already.)

There is so much more I can say so maybe my mum will let me guest blog on her website next week. You can find her at: https://www.susanjbruce.com

Any-woof, it's over to all you two-legs.

What makes your tail wag? 

Can I have that treat now?

PS: Don’t tell the cat but I really do like her. I just pretend not to because it’s fun. Shhhhh! She’s coming.

PPS: Here is the link to Pluto's YouTube channel, Pluto Living. 

Nikita the Shichi is a little dog with a big personality. Her hobbies include eating everything she can find and wrestling cats. She also loves going for long walks on the beach with her mum and dad. Her motto: 'Life is too short not to rip things up.' You can find Nikita on Instagram @nikita_the_shichi

Susan J Bruce, aka Sue Jeffrey, spent her childhood reading, drawing, and collecting stray animals. Now she’s grown up, she does the same kinds of things. Susan has worked for many years as a veterinarian, and writes stories filled with themes of suspense, adventure, romance and overcoming. Susan also loves to paint animals. Susan won the ‘Short’ section of the inaugural Stories of Life writing competition and won the 'Unpublished Manuscript' section of the 2018 Caleb prize. Susan is the editor of 'If They Could Talk: Bible Stories Told By the Animals' (Morning Star Publishing) and her stories and poems have appeared in multiple anthologies. Her e-book, 'Ruthless The Killer: A Short Story' is available on Amazon.com. You can check out some of Susan’s art work on her website https://www.susanjbruce.com/animal-art .