Find Your Soulwork Activities And You’ll Never Work A Day In Your Life (And Your Life Will Work Better Than Ever Before)

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Over the past 12 months, I’ve focused a ton of my time on feeling good. And not just on feeling good, but also on figuring out what actually makes me feel good, and dealing with the self-sabotage that comes with feeling good for too long.

It was part of my mission for 2018: to feel as good as possible.

Why? Because when you feel good, you live on a higher-vibe frequency and you put yourself in the same energetic space as the things you dream of and desire to have in your life (and business).

The more good you feel; the higher your vibe. The higher your vibe; the better things you attract to yourself and into your life. The better things you attract to yourself and into your life; the happier you become.

And becoming happy is the WHOLE ENTIRE POINT.

Everything you dream of and desire to have you only want because you think having it will make you feel a certain way–happy; joyful; motivated; passionate; grateful; in love; at peace, abundant, etc.

But you don’t have to wait until you have the things/outcomes/results you dream of and desire. You can fast-forward things by figuring out how you’d feel if you were already there; if you were already the person who is being, doing and having the things you desire.

And then you can choose to feel those things right now.

No waiting. No prerequisites. No “when this happens, then I’ll feel that way.”

Just feeling, right now, in the moment, the way you desire to feel and the way you know you’ll feel when you’ve achieved the goal; received the thing; or created the outcome/results you want.

The feeling is what you’re really after. The rest is just a Bonus.

I’ve known this truth for more than a decade now. And it’s been drilled home to me multiple times by the spiritual teachers and visionaries I learn from and follow. From Abraham-Hicks to Mike Dooley to Danielle LaPorte, the message is so very crystal-clear…FEELING GOOD IS THE WHOLE POINT!!

So for 2018, I took that to heart and I accepted it as a bigger goal and vision for my year (and my life).

And along the way to discovering the things that make me feel how I want to feel, I unlocked what I’m now calling my “soulwork” activities. The activities that, when I do them daily and consistently, cause everything in my life (and biz) to work with total ease and flow.

Nothing is forced. There’s no struggle. Opportunities; clients; money; they all show up with ease.

Not only do my soulwork activities make me feel freaking AMAZING, but they also help me to live out my purpose in this world.

Uncovering these activities has made me more motivated; inspired; passionate; focused; and clear than I’ve ever been in my entire life so far. I now have a harder time falling asleep at night because I just want to keep going. I wake up much easier in the morning now and don’t actually want to snooze my alarm, because I’d rather get up and get to doing my soulwork activities.

These activities fill me up; they fuel me; they make me feel happy and so grateful to be alive. And, of course, they make my life and business work.

And the best part of all–as if it could get any better than feeling freaking amazing and living your purpose every day–is I no longer suffer from “Shiny Object Syndrome.” I no longer care what anyone else is doing. I’m no longer comparing myself or my business or my journey to anyone else’s.

I know exactly what I need to focus on every day to feel the way I desire to feel. And I’m now committed to doing those things.

Period. End of story.

Twenty-eighteen might not be the most financially successful year I’ll have; and it might not be the year I achieve a ton of outward success. But it will most definitely without a doubt be the year where everything changed INTERNALLY for me.

Because this year I’ve figured what makes me feel the way I want to feel; I’ve unlocked my personal success blueprint (aka: my soulwork); I’ve learned my self-sabotaged patterns and how to deal with them; and I’ve built a momentum that will only serve me and the world going forward.

And from THAT space, this year, I wrote two brand-new screenplays (and submitted to three script contests); co-wrote a brand-new book (that comes out in December!!!); coached hundreds of writers and creatives; launched a dozen or so new workshops and programs; and spoke on more than a dozen online summits and podcasts.

Best-best of all, I’ve never felt more clear; more confident; or more in alignment. 

Figure out what makes you feel freaking amazing. Unlock your personal success blueprint. Commit to doing your soulwork daily and consistently.

And watch how fast your life (and business) changes… for the better.

Dream life or bust,

jen

Isn’t it time for you to FEEL FREAKING AMAZING? No more waiting until… until… until…

Soulwork, my upcoming 21-day workshop, will help you unlock your personal success blueprint so that you know exactly where to focus your time and energy every day, and can wake up in the morning feeling recharged; energized; inspired; and motivated to start your day.

What could feeling freaking good every damn day do for your life and business? Only one way to find out…

>> JOIN US FOR SOULWORK HERE: www.dreamlifeorbust.com/soulwork

One of the Best Things I’ve Ever Done for Myself is Spend Time with People who Think Like I Do

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I just got off a team call with one of my clients who’s in the middle of a launch right now. Her team is amazing and all of us think very similarly about life and business. Every time I spend an hour on the phone with these women, I’m reminded of something I decided I was gonna do more of this year: spend time with people who think like I do.

You’ve probably heard the quote, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” (Jim Rohn). And it’s true.

Yes, it’s OK to spend time around people who think different than you and who aren’t at the same mindset level that you are. But if that’s the only people you spend time with, you may have a problem.

You need to be around people who think like you do and who’ve achieved more than you have. It pushes you to higher levels of thinking, believing and doing.

It inspires you to BE MORE.

If you’re only spending time with people who don’t think like you do and who aren’t achieving, it won’t motivate you. You may even start to feel self-conscious that you don’t fit in with them, and then you’ll dim down your light even more so you can be like they are.

Which is why you must have the like-minded people to spend time with. This will pull you back up and make it OK for you to shine your light and be who you truly are. And that will inspire you to greater levels of success and achievement.

It will also give you the mindset strength you need for when you’re not around like-minded people.

This is becoming more and more true for me as I make this major pivot in my business, because there will be people who don’t agree with my new direction. (#November7 #ItsComing)

I’m OK with that.

Because I want to create a community of millions of multi-passionate writers, artists and entrepreneurs who all think like I do and who are all taking action and achieving, and yet still aspire to greater levels of success and achievement. And to do something as powerful as that, you will have detractors and people who don’t agree and who think you need to follow the rules and do things like everyone else is doing them.

But I’m a rebel. I don’t like rules and I don’t like being told what to do. I like to do things my way. Always have.

I want to lead a revolution of multi-passionate writers, artists and entrepreneurs who never want to choose just one thing. Because I never, ever wanted to choose just one thing. And really, I couldn’t.

My soul is multi-passionate. That’s just how it is.

So being forced to pick one thing or even trying to pick one thing made me feel like I was dying inside.

If you’re a multi-passionate person, you’re not meant to do one thing. You’re meant to do all of the things, whatever your heart calls you to.

And the truth is, you can’t be successful at the level you dream of if you pick one thing or if you continue forcing yourself to pick one thing. Because that’s not who you really are.

Success comes from just being who you are.

This is why I’m so grateful to have opportunities to spend time with people who think like I do and who inspire and motivate me to want to be, do and have more. My dream life and career and business, exactly as I want it, all on my terms.

If it weren’t for my like-minded and beyond mentors and entrepreneur friends, I wouldn’t be at this place right now. Getting ready to jump into a whole new business and life and ME.

To finally say what I really want to say to the world. To finally allow myself to BE on the outside the me I’ve always been on the inside. To finally once and for all fully stand up for what I believe and what I want to be known for going forward.

For the last decade I’ve been showing one side of myself to the world. And while it’s been a great bunch of years, there’s been so much of myself that has been surpressed and dimmed because I kept telling myself I had to pick one thing.

But I could never pick one thing. Not even when I actually tried.

And now I don’t want to.

Dream life or bust,

 

 

#DreamLifeOrBust #DailyThinkDifferent

P.S. The doors to the Revise Your Damn Novel workshop with myself and Editor Sarah Fox, are opening on Monday, October 9 and we kick things off on Monday, October 16. Save the date and get ready to join us!!!

There is Never Anything to Fix, You’re Perfect Exactly as You Are

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I just made a seriously bold statement: that there’s never anything to fix because you’re perfect exactly as you are.

An extremely bold statement. One that most people probably wouldn’t agree with me on.

But I stand by it.

A big problem that so many people have is that they’re always trying to fix things about themselves and their lives, when there’s really nothing to fix. Fixing something sends the message that you’re broken or there’s something wrong with you.

Couldn’t be further from the truth.

There’s nothing wrong with you. You are perfect, exactly as you are right now.

Yes, there may be things you don’t like about yourself or your life, or things that you want to change or upgrade or improve on. But there’s never anything to fix, because you’re not broken.

And removing the “fix it” mindset is gonna be the thing that finally allows you to see yourself for who and what you really are.

For a long time now I’ve told myself that I need to “fix” my body, just because it’s not how I want it to be. But the thing is–there’s nothing wrong with my body. And many women would kill to have the body that I currently have.

But in my mind, it’s not good enough, because it’s not what I want it to be.

I want to be more toned and fitter. I want to be stronger and have better stamina. I want to my clothes to be loose and to be able to wear any damn thing I feel like wearing whenever I feel like wearing it.

So for months now I’ve been trying to “fix” my body and all the things I think are “wrong” with it. But the truth is, there’s nothing wrong with my body and there’s nothing that needs to be fixed.

I had to finally see that there’s nothing to fix about my body. My body is fine just the way it is. Yes, there are improvements I’d like to make, but saying I needed to fix something would mean that there’s something broken about me, and nothing is.

I just had to start seeing it that way.

And I finally have, thanks to a reframe I gave myself about where I’m currently at.

And, really, it’s the “I have to fix it” mindset that has stopped me from actually sticking with my daily fitness habit in the past. Because if you think there’s something wrong with you or that you have to fix something, it doesn’t exactly motivate you to want to work out or get healthy.

So I had to shift my mindset around fitness and getting healthy, and stop telling myself that I had to fix something.

Sure, I’m not as toned as I once was. I don’t have the body I had in my 20s. I’m not as small as I’m used to being.

But I’m also not that far off. All it would really take is just changing up my eating habits and exercising daily to get to where I want to be.

And if I chose to never do those things, to never eat better or exercise daily, guess what, I’d still survive. I wouldn’t fall apart or become broken.

So there’s nothing that I need to fix.

Approaching my health and fitness from a place of “I need to fix this” is the thing that has stopped me from wanting to make any changes. Which is why I’m no longer coming from that place.

The other day after I worked out at the gym, I had an ephiphany: it takes time to create the body you want.

I didn’t get to where I’m at with my body right now overnight. It took almost 34 years of eating too much sugar and junk food and not exercising very much to get me to where I am right now. I didn’t just eat a bag of cookies one night and wake up with the body I have currently.

Nope. It took years of neglect and not caring about what I was eating and not having enough movement in my life to make this happen.

So change isn’t gonna happen overnight either.

Sounds obvious, but that thought had never really occured to me until the other day. And it has helped me to make peace with the whole “fix it” thing and to realize that so long as I commit to eating better, taking better care of myself and exercising/sweating for at least 20 minutes a day, eventually I’ll get to have the body I’ve always wanted.

The dream body, for me.

This way of thinking–that I didn’t get to this place overnight and so I’m not gonna get to where I really want to be overnight either–has changed everything for my fitness and health. And this way of thinking can also apply to anything else in your life that you want to change or improve, including your writing habits.

You didn’t get to where you’re at with your writing today all in one night. No, the not writing often enough or not finishing your writing projects or constantly procrastinating (or wherever you’re at currently in your writing life) happened over a lifetime of putting the writing off and avoiding it and convincing yourself that it wasn’t important or didn’t matter.

So you can’t just expect to wake up tomorrow and suddenly be a New York Times Best Selling Author.

It takes time to get to that point. It takes working at it a little every day. It takes commitment to the outcome and being willing to do whatever it takes, until it takes and then keep going.

And even still, wherever you’re at today with your writing, your body, your health, whatever, there’s nothing to fix. Because you’re not broken. You’re perfect exactly as you are.

But if you want to change; if you’re inspired to change; if you want to improve things and get yourself to an even better and more pefect for you place, that’s the mindset to have. That’s the way to make the transformation that you want to make.

One day at a time.

Dream life or bust,

 

 

 

#DreamLifeOrBust #DailyThinkDifferent

P.S. Doors to the Bestselling Author Mastermind are opening to new members on Monday September 18!!! When you join us you get access to a KILLER Bonus (which I’ll be announcing soon!!) AND you get to participate in my upcoming 100-Day Writing Sprint workshop where we’ll be banding together to kick some ass and achieve our 2017 writing goals. Stay tuned… (and if you want to be the first to know when the doors are open, be sure to join my email list here: www.jenniferblanchard.net/newsletter )

The Four Things Your Protagonist Needs In Your Story

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I’ve been re-reading Screenplay by Syd Field lately as I gear up to write my first screenplay (I’m currently in the early developmental stages of it). Now that I know craft as well as I do, I love to read badass books on craft, because it really refines and clarifies and expands my current understanding of how stories work and how to write them.

Creating characters–and especially your Protagonist–is one of the big reasons why I love writing stories. I have a deep desire to understand the human mind and the human condition, and why people do and think the way they do.

And a story is nothing if not a study of the human condition.

But this is where a lot of fiction writers fall off track. Because while a story is about a character, that’s not the whole story. There’s so much more to it than that.

If you don’t know this or haven’t implemented it properly in your story, what you’ll end up with is an episodic narrative that gives the day-to-day account of a character’s life. Almost like a journal.

The reason it’s episodic narrative as opposed to an actual story is because there’s no definitive end point. You could just keep going, writing forever about what happens in the character’s life.

But that doens’t make it a story (OR a series of stories).

What makes it a story is that it has a character who wants something, another character who opposes what the other one wants, and a journey ensues toward a resolution.

And that’s just the starting point.

Your character needs to be three-dimensional, so they feel like a real person and are believable as a real person. Otherwise your reader won’t be able to empathize for them.

Without reader empathy your story is dead in the water.

As I’ve been reading Screenplay, I’ve loved gaining further clarity on creating a character–in this case, a Protagonist–and how to really bring them to life.

There are four essentials to creating a three-dimensional character and making them compelling and someone readers can empathize with.

1. Goal–this is what your Protagonist wants in the story. It’s the whole enchilada. This is the reason we’re even reading the story or watching the movie to begin with.

The main character has a goal and we want to watch and cheer them on as they go up against an Antagonist to achieve the goal (or have another goal introduced by the Antagonist, which then causes the character to have to overcome that before being able to achieve the initial goal).

2. Point of View–this is the internal landscape of the character. It’s what they believe about the world and themselves and their backstory. This is where you really have to go deep on what makes the person tick. And beliefs are the core of what makes up a person.

It’s true that what you believe you become, and the same thing works in fiction. So what beliefs does your Protatonist have and how has this shaped the way he sees the world and himself?

This is also where the character’s inner demon will come into play.

3. Attitude--this is the external aspects of your character. It’s how he presents himself to the world and the opinions that he holds. It’s his mannerism and way of being.

This is where you’ll figure out how your character acts or would act when presented with certain scenarios and situations.

4. Transformation–this is the overall change the Protagonist makes in the story. It’s when they’ve finally overcome their inner demon(s) and defeated the Antagonist.

This is the other thing a reader comes to a story for. To watch a character go through hell and come out victorious or at least changed for the better.

What transformation does your character make in your story? And how does that transformation stem from dealing with and overcoming the inner demon and Antagonist?

Creating compelling, interesting, engaging and empathetic characters is what will bring your story to life on the page. But you can’t just write a day-to-day account of their lives or even a specific time in their lives.

You have to write about a character with a specific need or goal they must achieve and the journey that ensues toward a resolution when another character steps into the story and tries to stop them from achieving the goal, or creates an entirely new goal for them to have to acheive before they can achieve the original one.

Do that and you’ll have yourself a story that’s actually worth reading.

Dream life or bust,

 

 

#DreamLifeOrBust #DailyThinkDifferent

P.S. I’m currently accepting new email story coaching private clients. Spaces are very limited. If you want to work privately with me to plan and develop the idea in your head into a fully fleshed out story plan that you can use to write your first draft–or you want to rework a story you wrote that’s not quite working yet–send me a PM right now and I’ll send you more info about how you can work with me.

It’s Time To Stop Being So Hard On Ourselves

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Growing up I was conditioned to associate dinner with dessert. My family is big on dessert. So after dinner every night, my mom would always let us have dessert.

Sometimes it was a waffle sundae, other times fried dough or sometimes it was a franken-snack like Pop Tarts, cereal, toaster pasteries or whatever sugary treat my brother and I decided we wanted to eat.

And while that association between dinner and dessert was great when I was kid–I mean, seriously, what kid doesn’t want to eat sugary snacks that taste delicious!!–it’s not so great today, as an adult who wants to be healthy and live life free of the ailments that plague so many.

Because no matter how hard I try, I always want to eat dessert or snacks after dinner. Even when I’m not hungry. The habit is that strong for me.

And for the last few years it’s a bad habit I’ve struggled a lot with. Because I hate it, and yet I still want to do it.

So anytime I decide to have dessert or I cave and eat a ton of sugar, I give myself a hard time about it. Sometimes it’s all I think about all day… you got to stop eating dessert or you’ll end up with diabetes or worse… do you want to be healthy your whole life? or do you want to be like all those people who believe that falling apart and bad health are just part of getting older? … you’re not gonna be able to maintain your body weight much longer if you keep this dessert-eating habit up…

On and on the negativity in my head just streams, like a song playing on repeat. And when I’m giving myself a hard time about something, it makes me feel demotivated and drains my energy.

So I decided to take my question to my mentor, someone who’s overcome some seriously bad habits around food. I asked her, “How do you break a habit that is super engrained in you… like needing to have dessert after dinner. This is one of the worst habits I have and I want to break it but feel like it’s so deeply engrained that it’s damn-near impossible.”

And what she said to me was, “I think you need to stop looking at it like a bad thing and stop giving yourself a hard time about it, and instead reframe it. I enjoy having a treat at night. I wouldn’t want to give up my after-dinner dessert, but I just choose to eat healthy things that I know will make me feel good, like raspberries with almond butter or Greek yogurt with coconut and berries.”

Sounds so obvious when I hear her saying it, and yet my mind never went there. My mind never said to me, “hey, how about instead of eating cookies or chips, you have some berries or chia pudding?” Eating berries and chia pudding as my dessert wouldn’t bother me at all, because I love that stuff and it’s good for you.

So rather than giving myself such a hard time about the “bad” habit, I just needed to reframe it. And this exercise works with anything.

I reframe stuff all the time, until it feels good to me. For example, last night my husband and I went out to dinner and then to this old-school video game pub I recently found (yes–an old-school video game pub!! My novel SoundCheck has come to life!!), and when we were leaving, our car wouldn’t start.

He got frustrated and started worrying about not having the car the next day for what he needed to do and how long we’d have to sit on the side of the road waiting for AAA to show up, etc., and then after I called for roadside assistance the car suddenly started right up. Which is pretty damn annoying and inconvenient.

But rather than see it that way, I reframed it for us… maybe it was Divine Timing. Maybe if the car had started when we first tried it would’ve put us in a bad situation on the road and we avoided it completely by the car not starting.

When you look at it that way, it makes it not feel so bad that we had to sit there and waste time for 20 minutes.

That’s the power of a reframe. It can change your entire mindset and way of thinking and feeling.

And it can help you stop being so hard on yourself.

When you look at the things in your writing life and life in general right now that you don’t like or that you’d consider to be “bad,” you can ask yourself, how can I reframe this? How can I shift my perspective?

Do this exercise right now. Think about something you usually give yourself a hard time about.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Got one?

Now I want you to think of how you can reframe it into a positive perspective.

Do it right now, either in a journal or in your head.

Got your reframe?

Great.

Now stick with it. Use it whenever you’re giving yourself a hard time.

And realize that the more things you reframe, the better you’ll feel, which is the whole point. You’re meant to feel good. Feeling good is how you create the positive, uplifting energy you need to bring your dreams to life.

Plus, it feels pretty damn good not to be so hard on yourself all the time about every little thing. If you have bad habits, it’s not because you’re bad, and often these habits are serving you in some way or you’re getting something out of it.

When you’re nicer to yourself and don’t constantly give yourself a hard time about everything, you’ll actually build up your confidence and start to feel good about who you are.

And confidence is what you need if you’re gonna go after your dream writing life with everything you’ve got.

Dream life or bust,

 

 

#DreamLifeOrBust #DailyThinkDifferent

P.S. If you need to stop giving yourself a hard time about everything and build up your confidence muscle, there are still a few days left to join us for the Writer’s Confidence Boost workshop.

People see me as a confident writer, speaker and creator. And I am. Now. But that’s definitely not where I started.

I’m an introvert and incredibly shy (almost painfully so at times). It took serious practice and commitment to create the confident author you now see before you.

And I’m going to show you how I did it.

If you want to be successful as a writer, you need to build up inner strength and confidence and fully believe in yourself. The Writers Confidence Boost 14-day virtual workshop will help you do exactly that.

And right now you can get in for 93% OFF the full price!!!

>> Details and sign up here: www.jenniferblanchard.net/landing/confidenceboost

TODAY ONLY: Get 6 Top Writing Books for 99 Cents Each

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I’m SO excited to share that I’ve teamed up with 5 other amazing authors to give you a killer deal on some of the best writing books out there–available today only for 99 cents each!!

Click on the covers below to access the deals: 

 

 

 

 

 

Each book is 99 cents… but only for today!! 

Know any writers? Share these great deals with them using the buttons below: 

The Worst Book Marketing Myth Ever (And How To Defuse It)

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If you’ve ever published a book, or are in the process of writing and publishing one, you’ve likely thought about marketing and what you’ll need to do to make book sales. Because that’s what it’s all about, right? Selling books.

And while that’s not totally wrong, it’s also not totally right.

Selling books is the goal, yes. But it’s not what the focus of your book marketing should be.

That’s where I see so many authors getting it wrong.

And that’s why when you go into writing groups on Facebook or Google+, a lot of times it’s just a promo fest of people drive-by sharing links to their books. Or you see people’s social media accounts just covered in promos, but without any real value to be found.

Totally worthless and the worst way to try and make a book sale.

Why? Because of two reasons:

  1. People aren’t on social media to buy stuff–social media is supposed to be for being social, so people aren’t reading stuff or watching stuff and thinking, “I need to buy that right now.” They’re there to engage and connect with other humans, and also to be entertained.
  2. There’s not enough value in a book promo on social media to get someone to open their wallet–and on the off-chance that someone does buy directly via social media, it’s because the value being presented in the post (written, video, etc) is so awesome that they can’t not buy.

So, if you’ve been trying to sell your book by posting promos on social media (or in Facebook groups) and it hasn’t worked, it’s time for a new strategy.

What Actually Sells Books

When it comes down to the core of what online marketing is, you’ll find two things:

1. Relationships–online marketing is all about building relationships and making connections with other people, both potential readers and industry-related.

2. Valuable content–at the core of online marketing is content. Content is what helps you make the connections and build the relationships that will earn you a readership. Now ‘value’ will be defined by you and the type of book that you’re marketing.

For example, if your book is a humorous novel, creating content aligned with that makes the most sense for adding value. So sharing things that make people laugh is a good way for you to connect with your readership and get them interested in your novel.

And these two things–when combined–are what sells books.

The worst book marketing myth is that it’s all about selling books. It’s not. And believing that is what’s keeping you from selling books.

Especially if you’re trying to market your books online (which most authors these days are).

People go online for one of three reasons:

  1. To learn something
  2. To be entertained
  3. Both

And that’s what you need to be thinking about when you do your book marketing.

Book marketing is not about selling books. It’s about being an interesting author (with an impactful message) who teaches potential readers something, entertains them or both, and because of that connection and that relationship with the potential reader, they will buy a book from you.

Your New Book Marketing Strategy

From here on out, you’re no longer allowed to do drive-by book promos on social media. (And I know YOU wouldn’t be doing that anyhow, because that’s not how a pro writer thinks or acts, right?) You’re no longer allowed to only post things that just promo your book.

From here on out, your marketing strategy is the following:

  • Build connections with readers and with industry/genre-related people
  • Create valuable content that your ideal reader wants and needs
  • Share your author message, in whatever way makes sense for you

There’s a lot more to it than that, but these are the foundational pieces of being a success author and successfully marketing your book online.

I got where I am right now with my publishing career because I spent 8+ years of my life building a following, connecting with others in my industry and delivering valuable, kick-ass content (on a consistent basis) that my ideal readers want. I’m now living my dream writing life, and it just gets better and better every day.

If you want to create your dream writing life, where you can write and publish books and actually sell them and make money, you’ve gotta be in it for the long-haul. And this is a long-haul book marketing strategy.

No, it won’t make you sales immediately overnight (unless you’ve already got a bit of a following), but it will help you build an author brand that will make sales–and, eventually, enough sales to support you in being the full-time author you’ve always dreamed of being.

Share With Us

How do you get the word out about your books?

———–

Are you ready to sell more books?? Doors to my upcoming live-virtual “Sell More Books” workshop will be opening soon! Join the waitlist to be the first to know when the doors are open.  

Are You In It For This?

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A common complaint I hear from writers is this–why does it take so long? 

And when they say that, they mean: why isn’t my book selling? Why am I still revising when I want to be published? Why have I been looking for an agent for a year now without any bites?

And, most of all, when am I finally gonna make some money?

I know it’s tough. You’ve been at this for years, possibly even most of your life so far. You’ve dreamed about it, you’ve set goals around it. And yet things just seem to be moving like molasses.

And here’s what I always say to the writers who make this complaint: I feel you, but it takes as long as it takes. 

Because the truth about this whole being a pro writer thing is that it’s long-term. Being a writer and having a successful writing career doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years of hard work, commitment and consistency to start seeing the results you want.

So you either have to be in it for the long-haul, or you may as well get out now. 

Because, like everything in life, writing success is a journey, it’s a process, it’s something that builds over time. And you may not see it at first, but when you look back 10, 20, 30 years down the road, you’ll see how far you’ve come and how long it actually takes to create success.

No one does it overnight.

I started freelance writing professionally in 2007, and launched my writing blog in 2008. I wrote and published my first nonfiction eBook in March 2010. Since then, I’ve written and publish 7 other books, including one novel. And it’s only since mid-2016 that things have finally started to take off for me.

This year, I’ve written and published more books than I ever have before. This year, I had 2 of my books hit #1 in multiple categories over multiple days on Amazon. This year, I’ve started making real money from my books, anywhere from $400 to $1,000+ per month, and growing.

But I had 8 years online and another 7 years before that learning and training and practicing and working toward the moment when I would hit a tipping point and my writing career would finally take off.

It happened this year. 

And if it happened for me, it can and will happen for you. But you’ve gotta give up the idea that it’s gonna happen fast. It’s not. It’s gonna happen when it happens.

For now, you need to keep going and do whatever you can to create good writing habits, get in alignment with the goals you have, and be as consistent as possible. Because it’s in the consistency over an extended period of time where results really come from.

When you look at the stories of successful people, you’ll see it wasn’t just one thing that got them where they are today. They didn’t find a magic bullet that changed everything.

No, it was all about the daily habits and actions they took, over years and years of their lives, that got them where they are today. 

Because that’s what it takes. Daily: Consistency. Commitment. A never-give-up attitude. And some serious elbow grease.

So, again, I ask you: are you in it for the long-haul? 

Are you willing to stick with it and do whatever it takes?

Even if it looks like it’s not working?

Even if it looks like it’s never going to happen?

Even if there’s barely a shred of hope left inside you?

Did you answer “yes” to those questions? If you did, congratulations. You’re gonna make it. You’ve got what it takes.

And yeah, it is gonna take time. Some days it’ll feel impossible. Other days it will feel easy like Sunday morning.

But every day you show up will feel worth it. And eventually that worth-it feeling will grow into more than just a feeling. It will grow into an actual writing career where you get paid to write and put your words out into the world. 

Because you can’t not get where you want to go if you show up every day and keep going no matter what. It’s literally impossible. 

It might take blood, sweat, tears and time, but it will happen. That much you can count on.

And whenever you find yourself freaking out, panicking or worried that it’s all for nothing, I leave you with one of my all-time favorite quotes, from the book, A Course In Miracles:

“Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and wait without anxiety.” 

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Why I Decided Not to Publish My New Book

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This week was supposed to be the week I published my new eBook. I set a publish date for Tuesday (that was yesterday) and then I re-set a date for Thursday (that’s tomorrow).

But something was up. Something wasn’t feeling quite right.

At first I thought maybe it was just Resistance. That happens sometimes, even to an author who has hit publish 8 times.

Except it wasn’t that.

Yes, I was Resisting finishing the book… but not for my usual reasons. Usually if I Resist it’s because I know I need to put the book out there.

But this time felt different.

Something was going on deep inside me. I had that feeling I often get when I’m on the verge of a revelation or a major shift of some kind.

I felt annoyed and pissed off. I couldn’t sit still. I felt like there was something bubbling inside me that needed to come out.

So I sat down and I did some journaling. And then I finally discovered what was going on.

I was Resisting because… THIS ISN’T THE BOOK I’M SUPPOSED TO PUBLISH.

I knew it was true the minute it came up, because it felt right. I felt like I immediately got back into alignment with my writing dream.

For 17 days now, I’ve been writing an eBook about how to write a really good eBook. And yeah, it was a decent start. But it just wasn’t feeling right to me.

And that’s because the topic is not in alignment with who I am and what I’m meant to be writing books about.

I’m meant to be writing books for writers about alignment, motivation, inspiration, mindset and getting shit done. All of the books I’ve written so far–and all of the ones I’ve had become best sellers–are aligned with those topics.

All of them.

And that’s not to say I shouldn’t step out of my comfort zone. I should.

But there’s a difference between stepping out of your comfort zone on something you know you’re meant to be doing… and forcing yourself to do something that’s not really in alignment with who you are.

This book made me feel stuck and not in flow, which is the complete opposite of how my books make me feel.

And yes, I can absolutely teach someone how to write an eBook. I’ve done it 8 times now. But my journaling last night led me to one very simple conclusion: I DO NOT want to write books about how to write books.

So I decided to let it go. To go with my gut and listen to myself.

Yes, I did mention the book to quite a few people and I will have to explain to them my decision. But regardless of what they think or the reasons they think I’m doing it… I know the truth.

I choose to create my dream writing life all on my terms. And that sometimes means trusting your gut and knowing what you’re meant to be doing. (Or not doing.)

The outside world will tell you that this is wrong. That you should never “listen to your gut” or “trust your intuition” when making business decisions.

But that’s how I roll. It’s the only way I can roll.

Because here’s one thing I do know… You can’t be a successful author writing and publishing books that aren’t aligned with who you are.

Why It’s A Good Idea to Have One Website, Even When You Do Multiple Things

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Hear me out on this one. Because I know up front it seems like it makes total sense to keep all of your creative work and projects separate from each other by having different websites. The books with the books. The artwork with the artwork. The whatever with the other whatevers.

Logically it does makes sense. Keep everything separate and contained in one place, so that it’s nice and neat and no one gets confused.

Here are the arguments I often hear for having multiple websites:

  • People will get confused if I have multiple projects on one site
  • People will get distracted
  • Readers don’t want to see information about your writing services and writers don’t want to see information about your books, etc.
  • It will be harder to get people interested in what I’m doing/interested in following me if I have too much stuff on one site that doesn’t go together

And, yes, all of those arguments are totally valid. Having multiple websites, one for each project or focus you have, is the traditional way of thinking about marketing.

But there’s a better and much more effective way to think about it: the Digital Age way.

In the Digital Age, there is power in being YOU. There is no one else in the world exactly like you–there never has been and there never will be.

Being you makes you unique, automatically.

So rather than try to separate or compartmentalize all the different things that make up who you are and what you do (which is the traditional way of doing it), put them all together with YOU as the thing that ties it all together.

I’m better with examples… so here’s a quick graphic I drew up to illustrate what I’m talking about:

FullSizeRender-4

The black-marker drawing is the old way of thinking, that everything you do has to be separate from each other. The blue-marker drawing is the new way of thinking about it.

I call it the “Authorpreneur Brand.” What that means is, you as the writer/author are the “umbrella” that everything else falls under. Think of it like a celebrity brand. A celebrity has her movies and her music, her makeup line and her haircare line, etc. But all of it fits on the same website because the thing that brings it all together is her as the celebrity.

Yes, you can also have separate websites if you prefer, to let people find out more or go deeper. But you can still use one website as the “home base” for all of that (and then just connect your main website to all the sub-sites).

One of the bigger arguments I hear for having multiple sites is that people will get confused or readers don’t want to see your writing services and vice versa. But here’s the truth: by being you, you will attract your ideal audience, and your ideal audience will buy into YOU, not into what you do.

Meaning, people who love you and love who you are and who resonate on a deep level with you, will want to know everything that you’re doing. They’ll want to follow all of the stuff you have going on. (And the rest of them don’t matter!).

Makes it a lot easier for them to do that when you have one website, right?

So that’s my reason for recommending you have one main website for everything you do as an authorpreneur.

I’ve done the multiple website thing. I used to totally believe that you had to keep it all separate. So I had a website focused on motivation and inspiration for writers called Procrastinating Writers; and I had a website focused on creative wellness and the writing life called InkyBites; and then I had a website for my author brand and coaching services called JenniferBlanchard.net.

Problem was, I was spread so freaking thin trying to keep up with all these sites that I wasn’t being effective in any one area. I was making very little impact. And I’m here to make an impact on the writing world.

In order to do that, I had to suck all those other brands up into one brand: Jennifer Blanchard. Me, as the authorpreneur, at the center of everything.

So many of us writers are multipotentialites, meaning we’re passionate about multiple things, not just writing. And it’s totally OK for us to be this way. But it does make marketing a bit more challenging.

One way to make it easier on yourself is to find a way to make yourself the brand and build everything else from that.

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