Hey everyone! Welcome back to part two of our Tips for Tales with our guest poster Katja!I don’t know about you, but her tips from last week were incredible! I can’t wait to share with you what she has today. Let’s get to it!
4) As a young writer, I read a lot of posts about “advice to young writers” and “advice to my younger self.” This is my advice to my younger self and to young writers: Learn all you can about your craft. Write as much as you can. Pray about your writing and surrender it to God. Don’t compare yourself to other writers. Write what the Lord would have you write. Accept when He gives you seasons of little or no writing. Keep working. Don’t give up. Don’t neglect your responsibilities or miss out on life. God is good, and if it is the right thing for you, He will make your wildest dream true. Trust His timing and rest in His promises.
And most of all: Let go and let God.Surrender.When you surrender your writing into God’s hands, He takes you further than your wildest dreams. He fulfills your unexpressed desires. He teaches you more than you ever bargained for. He blesses so much when we just trust and obey. So quit fighting Him. Surrender your writing into His hands. It hurts, I know. But it’s so worth it. I don’t know where He’ll take you. But I know that when you follow the Lord, He leads you to the exactly best place for you. Because our God is good. So trust Him with your writing journey just as much as you trust Him with your life journey.
5) The ugly fact is, my writing isn’t “good” writing, according to the experts and standards. And it definitely isn’t popular. Honestly, that is super tough for me. I am an extreme people-pleaser. I want everyone to love my stories. I’m having a hard time going through beta-comments because I want my book to be “perfect.” But what IS perfect?
There isn’t really any perfect. There are some rules we all need to follow. But even them, sometimes it’s okay to break them. As a copyeditor, reader, and writer, I say, sometimes it’s okay to break the rules. If you want to know, I’ve deliberately broken the sacred punctuation rules a couple times. Because *I* wanted a certain look and style and sound. And that makes my writing ME. And that’s the beauty of writing. It’s so absolutely unique. And who decides what makes a great book? The greatest novel I know is basically unknown. Some books have achieved immortality, but does that automatically make them great? Greatness isn’t found in popularity. And we’re not called to be popular, we’re called to be true and different and Jesus-following. So don’t let perfectionism scare you. Keep writing, writer.
6) Recently I was asked my top tips for struggling writers. #1: Pray.
Never underestimate the power of prayer (as I sadly have). It’s amazing how much one simple prayer can smooth things out. #2: Seek helpful counsel from people you trust & who are knowledgeable/helpful in what you’re struggling with. Don’t just take anybody’s advice. Seeking good advice is always better! There’s a famous quote that goes, “Don’t accept criticism from people you wouldn’t go to for advice.” Have discretion, because wrong advice can be very hurtful. #3: Step back and take a break. I want to really emphasize that. I hate stepping away before I figured stuff out, but it really helps so very much, and I always wish I’d done it. It can be a break of 10 minutes, 10 hours, 10 days, or even 10 weeks… sometimes you just need to let go for a while. And #4: Don’t beat yourself up over it. Just because you’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re worthless. On the contrary, it means you’re genuinely wanting to do your best—and that is very important. Everyone struggles. The difference is, real ones hang on; fakes give up.
This set of tips was amazing! I love the fact that number six had extra tips hiding in it. I also loved the final quote “Real ones hang on; fakes give up”. I totally need that on an inspirational poster somewhere. Katja’s links are once again listed below. I hope you take the time to check it out!
My Bookstagram :https://www.instagram.com/oldfashionedbooklove/
My Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/118578359-katja-labont
My Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.ca/OldFashionedBookLove/_saved/
https://littleblossomsforjesus.wordpress.com (blog)
https://littleblossomsforjesus.wordpress.com/free-books/ (Download my books)
penlightenment.quest 
Ah, amazing advice! Thank you both for this!
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Thanks for your kind words 🙂 I appreciate it so much!
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