Ignore the Naysayers and Dream BIG

For the struggling writer full of self-doubt, the person feeling defeated and nearly ready to give up on their dreams, let me share part of my personal experience with you. Hopefully it will help you stand up for what you feel called to do and not to fear the magnitude of your dreams. Do not give into the lie that you shouldn’t even try because of the risk of looking like a failure. I’d rather risk failure then not knowing if I could have succeeded and always wondering what could have been...

As you may or may not already know, I have two books being traditionally published and due to come out soon. Before I made my dream to be an author public however, I kept it a secret from almost everyone I knew. I didn’t even tell my parents I was writing a book until after I had been writing for over a year and was nearly done.

I learned early on to guard this dream close to my heart and to only share it with a precious few. I told a lifelong friend I was thinking about writing a book and about the actual dream I had that had inspired the entire idea. This person literally laughed in my face and said derisively, “Oh really? Oh, well, I’m going to write a book too.” And laughed again. That person’s words and attitude kicked my dream in the face and with it rushed a title wave of doubt and the fear of failure.

The internal wound only lasted for about 5 minutes when I recognized it for what it was; the voice of the enemy trying to discourage me and push me off the course I felt God was putting me on. I literally prayed for the power of those words and the word curses that might follow, to be rejected and their influence extracted from my heart so that I could focus on the story that was welling up within my heart and mind to share. I couldn’t let it contaminate my motivation or my confidence. I had to make a conscious decision to reject this person’s discouragement and not let it feed the self-doubts I was already battling against. It’s hard enough to try and muster up the courage to try something you’ve never attempted before. Having someone you trust and love treat it like the joke of the century was simply painful.

 

I started writing book 1 of The Deceiver series only a few days later. I did not tell that person or anyone else except a very small pool of people, that I was even writing the book until I had a traditional publishing contract in my hand and signed. I guarded the dream, kept it close to my heart, and didn’t cast my pearls before the swine.

As a point of advice, let me encourage you to find someone you can fully trust to share chapters to as you write them for opinions and to get an honest perspective from a reader. My sister and best friend were that for me. They both have very different tastes in books and personalities. Their feedback and encouragement was invaluable to me as a first time author and dreamer. They really helped to build me up and see the potential even I doubted in myself before and during writing book 1 and 2.

 

When you do what you feel called to do, and ignore the naysayers, and don’t announce to the wind the sacrifices you are making for the call, God will vindicate you. God will open the doors. God will put things into motion. You just have to be willing, listen for his leading, and do it. If it is his will, he will bring it to pass.

Sometimes we have to surrender our dreams to let God’s dream for us unfold. I had other dreams. Dreams that were so close I could reach out and touch them, but they were swept away and I was powerless to stop it. But I surrendered it to God. And look at what he’s doing now. Him. Not me. He did this.

What fear of failure should we bother to entertain when God wants something accomplished? If you feel called to do something and it doesn’t come about, then it just isn’t God’s timing yet. It is not your failure if you did all you could and applied yourself 110%. It just means to be patient, to trust God and to give God back the responsibility that is his. If he wants the words to be heard or read, he will open the doors. That’s his business. Ours is to just stay willing and ready.

And if you have a dream for your life but it's not God’s dream for your life, try surrendering it to him and asking what he has for you. His will be even bigger, better and bring more joy then fulfilling your own dreams. If the creator of the universe feels like creating a dream for you, step on in and take claim to it. There won’t be anything better that you could possibly create on your own.

R.J. Machado De Quevedo

(Follow me on Twitter under @TheDeceiverBook )