On January 10, 2017 I released a book into the world.
Did anyone know that?
Maybe?
Maybe not?
If I am being honest I have struggled greatly to promote the book after it went live for purchase on the world wide web.
For some reason when I think about sharing my work with the world I get all weird and squirmy and self-conscious. Not because I’m worried about how people will react to the actual words (I fully get not everyone will love it, and I’m cool with that, I surely don’t love everything I read), but of how people will react to me TELLING THE WORLD about my work.
Ugh.
It’s such a struggle. I mean, I have shared my book on Instagram a total of three times. Three times! Four if you count that I recently added it to my highlights. I spent a lot of hours writing and a lot of dollars publishing this piece of my heart and yet I’m scared to talk about it because of what people might think of me.
What in the actual world?
But S-L-O-W-L-Y (a.k.a two years, hello) God has been working on my heart in this area.
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| Omgoodness, look at baby Camille. |
Here is what God has been revealing to me. . .
1. Somewhere along the way we have equated humility and humbleness as not talking about our work. But friends, is this perspective even Biblical? I don’t think so. God has given us gifts and talents and testimonies and if we are truly letting the Holy Spirit lead us in our gifting, regardless of what that is, He wants us to share our offerings! Yes, the Bible warns us against succumbing to pride and arrogance, and this is a dangerous train to jump on, but I truly believe we can assume the posture of humility and still put our work out there for others to see. On the flip side, promoting a book (or a service or a product or whatever your thing is, regardless of if you are getting paid for it) is not egotism. It’s simply the follow-through of the original act of obedience, the original "yes" to write it, make it, create it, etc.
2. I have been making this about me. Yikes. When we let fear or insecurity stop us from sharing our work, we are making our thing All. About. Us. In my case, I’ve been making it about me, not the reader. I wrote the message of Desert Song for other women, to be encouraged to claim joy despite circumstance. I wrote it and then I let myself get in my own way.
3. If I opened a coffee shop, would I not spend time advertising to bring in customers? If I had a small business where where I created custom jewelry out of my home, would I not let people know? Yes. I would. And I don’t think I would be all weird inside about it. Yet, for some reason, writing has felt different. Yes, I did it for the message itself, not the money (let's be real, authors make about 5 cents per sale), but I have to remember that whether we are talking about vanilla lattes or words in a book, the same principle applies.
Anyways, that’s what I’ve been wrestling through for awhile. And all that to say, you might hear me talk about my written words a little bit more in the future.
Here’s to humbly letting the Spirit lead us as we share our creations with the world. Here’s to getting out of our own way, and following-through with the weird marketing side of producing a product or piece of content, whatever that looks like.
Here’s to doubling my Instagram posts in 2019! Ha!
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| And here's to hoping my words don't put you to sleep like they did my husband. It looks like he is faking it, but I assure you, he was out cold. #thanksbabe |
. . .
What are you writing? What are you creating? What is your hobby? What are you good at and enjoy more than anything in the world? What is your small business? What are you selling? What do you spend hours on, just for the love of it? God delights when we share, so please comment below with Your Thing!
