I’ve been listening a lot to the Quitcast, the podcast with Becca Syme. I’ve been searching for three years for answers, and I finally found a place that gives me hope I’ll find them. The 50 or 60 episodes I’ve listened to so far aren’t about craft or marketing. I’ve been studying both since I started this journey. I’ve mentioned before that for me, there’s very little that is new when it comes to these areas of writing and publishing. What Becca talks about is like water for a parched throat.
I’ve known about Clifton Strengths for years. I read a book about it. Talked to a friend who wanted to be a coach with it. And finally took the test a few years ago. If I think maybe I need to retake the test, that perhaps it’s not accurate, I just need to look at other inventories and assessments to see that they’re all aligned. For me, that’s a win. I would rather have similar traits show up across the different tests than to have the results be scattered. When reading the descriptions, I find they’re an accurate depiction of me. Now I need to figure out how to apply this information to my writing.
In one of the episodes, Becca talks about a Stuck List. By paying attention to where in our writing we get stuck, and what we’ve done to get ourselves unstuck, is noted and kept where we can easily access it when it happens again. Other episodes describe writer’s block and burnout. Becca gives lots of ways to think about why someone isn’t writing, and also suggestions on what to do and where to go and things to consider to help writers return to their manuscript.
When I started writing, the big question was how to get an agent to sell the manuscript to a publisher. Then it was deciding if the writer plotted or discovered their story. Technology sped the evolution of indie publishing. That opened the doors to how to build a platform. With almost 20 years worth of data, the paths to writing a book, publishing the book, marketing to readers, and building a career have expanded. Some authors are no longer on the field. Some have wound their way around and through myriad paths and are looking to get back to their manuscript. I can recommend the Quitcast as a place to find guideposts.
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