Reframe the narrative
Don’t let your writing career be stymied by self-limiting beliefs, says Gillian Harvey, as she looks at author expectation vs reality
Gillian
Harvey
When I signed my first publishing contract, I’ll admit I was naïve. I had a fixed idea of what it meant to be a published author and it went something like this:
• Get agent
• Get publishing deal
• Book is sold in supermarkets and all bookshops
• Success or failure
• Another deal or failure
• Upward trajectory… or failure What I’ve realised since is not only was this a bit simplistic, it was also incredibly stress inducing. I believed that if my first book wasn’t an out-and-out hit, then that was IT. Game over.