It's kind of funny (in the sad way), and I'm sure a lot of writers can relate to this, but for the better part of the last 20 years I felt like my writing career had been a failure.
Sure, I had written and completed loads of scripts. Even produced quite a bit of them. But I had fully bought into the whole "fame and fortune" blockbuster version of success society places on us, and felt defeated by the inevitable questions like "Would I know any of your stuff?" And as a result, even whenever I did receive a modicum of success (for e.g. a million views on my web series), I simply moved the bar so I could keep on telling myself my failure story. "Sure, it got nearly a million views and people seemed to love it, but it didn't get picked up by a network..."
And then the pandemic hit. Suddenly the proverbial rug was pulled out from under the whole world at once. All sense of normality came to a screeching halt, and en masse, people were having all sorts of big feelings about it. I did what I always do when things get crazy, and leaned into my writing to help make sense of it all. But this time I invited others into the mix.
I started to share my secrets of the ways in which I have always used storytelling and journal writing to help keep myself sane, grounded and whole. In fact, I created a whole workshop around it, because that's what we writers do. We create things. But it wasn't until a few months into this, when I found I wasn't just helping myself, but that I was genuinely helping change the lives of the people that I was working with, that it finally hit me: my writing career had been an astounding success, just not by the metrics I had insisted be placed upon it.
Once I woke up from that bad dream, I was able to really get present again to the importance and healing power of storytelling. I could see the full weight of what its done for me all these years and what it can and does do for others. I made it my commitment to never de-value that again, and to dedicate my life to helping people tell their stories.
I could see with fresh eyes that storytelling has a healing power that is better than any therapy. It gives people the tools and focus needed to help them heal themselves. And in the process, through sharing their stories, it could potentially help others, who are going through similar challenges, feel less alone. What kind of success could be better than that?
So now I'm committed. I formed Loving The Process with the vision in mind to create the kind of support network for writers and storytellers I always wished I'd had. An inspired, supportive community of writers and storytellers, dedicated to pursuing the highest form of their craft (for all their myriads of reasons) who see a balanced creative life and deep enjoyment of the daily process as the ultimate reward.
From that space, it is inevitable that some truly great, universal stories will come that might go on to be celebrated worldwide with many happy financial returns. But that sort of success will be gravy, because everyone in this community will know they've already won.
As always, if you're planning to tackle a big writing project in the coming year and feel like you could use some support in order to ensure your success. Check out my upcoming workshops and courses, and get on my calendar for a free introductory coaching session.