When Your Dreams Hit a Dry Spell

When we started this venture to create a children’s story about our “reverse-role” life and subsequent blog, I imagined it would take off like wild fire and folks would really latch on.  We would have this huge following of people from all around the world who would write to us daily sharing their personal stories and anecdotes.  “We love you guys!  Please write more books and blogs!”  Um, yeah, that didn’t happen.  It takes a lot of hard work and thick skin to make it in this business.  I never realized the amount of sweat and tears it requires to invent yourself and establish an audience who will actually pay attention to you.  Sure you have your family, friends and co-workers cheering you on.  Of course they don’t want you to fail because they were forced to read all your bad material.  I commend all authors out there who’ve broken their backs to make a name for themselves.  Earlier this year, I had the hair brain idea to start a video series on YouTube thinking THIS will definitely put us on the map!  That went flat quickly.  “Hey, lets all sit at the kitchen table and talk about ourselves.  People will eat this up!”  Quite honestly, it was ‘yawn’ material at it’s best and not the caliber of work that would earn the respect and interest of our viewers…so we tabled it.  I will say however that our weekly blogs are so much fun to write about…but if readers can’t connect, we’re toast.  As the months go by, it becomes easier and easier to just throw in the towel and say, you know what?  Maybe this is malarkey (my new favorite word), too much work and OMG, no one’s even paying attention!  But what keeps me going is my love for writing.  I’m not saying I’m any good but it’s therapy and feeds my brain a different type of stimuli outside my usual week of endless PowerPoints and diagrams.  I’m sure some of you can relate??  I also use ‘visualization’ as a motivational tool which is my saving grace.  I visualize writing endless stories and those books making top seller lists and #1 spots Oprah, Amazon and Good Reads, I imagine book signings at major stores and events across the country, I dream of interviews on radio stations and talk shows, I fantasize about writing articles for Parents or FamilyFun magazine.  My most decadent visualization is laying peacefully in a hammock near the beach in a Spanish villa in the south of Spain while Maya and Ernesto walk hand-in-hand along the shore.  I imagine writing our next story while the sound of waves and soft winds whisper in the background.  It’s incredibly invigorating to visualize all of this…but if nothing ever comes of it, it can be a major buzz kill.  The upside however is that our ‘pipe dream’ is not disrupting our lives or causing harm.  It’s not stopping our ability to earn an income or live life comfortably.  It’s a passion (a hobby if you will) that I believe will one day blossom into something spectacular.  If any of you meditate, you have a word that you repeat over and over again to keep you centered.  My magic word is hammock.  I’m also inspired by other authors who’ve felt our pain as they struggled to make a name for themselves.  One popular writer who took years to break into the industry explained that the secret to success is to keep writing!  There’s a book called “Write, Publish, Repeat” by Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt who also host a popular vlog.  They’re brilliantly hilarious and put a quirky spin on what new writers go through.  The key is to keep writing and they will come…so we’re not giving up yet.  We know we have a following out there that is yet to be discovered.  We will find you!  But for now we’ll continue to write about real topics that you can relate to.  Oh, and let’s not forget humor.  Keeping our stories light and entertaining is important.  People love humor and this world is too serious as it is.  So I aspire to bring you funny stories and blogs that will appeal to both children and adults.  Maya always reminds me how dull some of my blogs are.  The most valuable critics are your children.  They can be brutally honest…brutally but the reality is that those criticisms what make us better.  I especially want to thank those of you who’ve stuck with us, tuned into our weekly tales and see a sliver of potential in our dreams.  Cheers everyone!