Coffee Talk: Comparison

[Music] hey it's been a while since we've done a or since i've done a coffee talk and just kind of let you know where i am and giving you a bit of an update about my writing projects and and all that kind of thing i don't have much of an agenda for this um except to talk about comparison that has been happening with me so much the last couple weeks um not only that but it's just been a it's just been a really extraordinarily busy and uh stressful couple of weeks so adding comparison on top of that is obviously not uh not the best thing but grab a cup of coffee get cozy i already had a couple cups of coffee this morning and so i'm just having water my sister got this for me for for christmas it's from boy meets world which is uh super fun yeah so at the beginning of my author career comparison was not something that i suffered from at all i knew that it was going to be a long haul i knew that my first book wasn't going to be an instant bestseller and i was willing to work to make things happen so when it wasn't immediate and i was spending more than i was making at the beginning then i was fine with that i would see other people having success and i would think go you that's awesome i can learn from you um even if the books that were successful you know in in my mind were like not as good as my books i still saw that as motivation because hey those books could become uh really popular then why couldn't mine it's just it's getting harder as the as time goes on obviously i haven't been uh an author for a published author for that long i'm coming up on my second anniversary in july for about a year and a half before that i i was writing and learning and i feel like i've been at this for a lot longer because because i've been working at it for a lot longer but technically my publishing anniversary is just um you know my second one's just coming up but because i've been working for three three and a half years or something behind the scenes i feel like okay all right well at this point maybe i should be seeing some more success now i have seen some growth don't don't get me wrong i've seen growth on this channel which is awesome thanks for being here i'm glad that you get some some value out of my english nerdy knowledge but my books are no by no means best sellers and it's just frustrating to try to figure out advertising and and try to tip those scales and and get to a place where my books can have their own momentum now you might be thinking well you only have two out or three if you count my um my pen name that's true i need to remind myself that i only have a few books out um but it's it's it's kind of weird uh on the one hand i am extremely proud of what i've accomplished i mean fearing and rising into the unreal and then kingdoms on fire coming out in july i am so unbelievably proud of those books they are a huge part of who i am i think that they turned out extraordinarily well and i think that they deserve to be bestsellers i think if they were to become that obviously there would be a huge variety of opinions but i think that they can stand up to a lot of the current popular books out there not only that but i've wanted to be a writer at least off and on since i was really tiny and and putting out even one book was a complete dream come true and now i am i have a publishing schedule that i'm that i'm working on so there's the end of the tanuan academy series and then i have big plans for the things that are coming after the that series um so you can look for those announcements pretty soon um the first people who are going to get all the announcements including the cover reveal for kingdoms on fire will be my newsletter so i'll post the the link down below if you're interested in being one of those people um so i'm i'm putting out like almost like the equivalent of a big novel and then something smaller per year and i'm a full-time teacher i feel like that's something that i can be really proud of but it's hard not to just feel a little off when i when i hear different uh podcasts or when i go onto uh social media of course like facebook i'm part of facebook groups that are for self-published authors and you know how to be successful in a bunch of marketplaces and and so there are people there who are really successful who have lots of answers so they're wonderful sources of information but you also see so many people who are making six figures and that is absolutely not my story i would be it would be nice um but i i don't have the kind of advertising power or the fast release schedule or or whatever it is that allows them to to um do that so so it's kind of weird i look at my books and i'm really proud but i'm also feeling like i'm not where i want to be either it's a little bit like being a teacher i guess there are elements of my job that are so so fulfilling but then i look around at how much other people make you know and of course that just puts a damper on my whole day and oh i'm i'm not let me be clear i am not somebody who's super motivated by money i am far more motivated by by fulfillment you know am i doing something that i enjoy that i get that sense of satisfaction from can i can i go home and be proud of what i've done at the end of the day that to me is far more important than any sort of paycheck or amount of money that i get even even with my books if my books only end up making enough to kind of fund themselves and just a little bit more then i'll be okay more important to me is that there are a lot of people who also get massive enjoyment out of them like i'm getting enjoyment out of them i mean i'm my own biggest fan i have this map that i've i commissioned i mean how fun is that i get to commission maps you've got to be kidding that's incredible um so i would prefer that if it's one or the other i would prefer to have people just really enjoy the books and the and those who are going to enjoy it be able to find it um but yeah comparisonitis as joanna penn says is definitely a real thing it's it's rough so i'd be curious to know how do you combat comparing yourself and the level of success that you found to other people like how can you how can you um focus more on what you've what you've accomplished and and look forward you know to or make plans to become that popular how do you how do you combat this i trust that this comparisonitis feeling will eventually pass or at least it'll come in waves and then it'll go away but it's just been it's just been kind of a tougher week but we'll see this summer i'm going to release um kingdoms on fire and there will be some other big developments coming in the works this summer as well and hopefully that will make a difference in the number of people who are able to find my stories and and enjoy them at least that's my that's my hope so i'm still still plugging away still working on some secret projects that i'm pretty excited about but that's that's honestly what i've been struggling with this week yeah just wanted to just wanted to share that with you guys and kind of pick your brains and see how you how you combat such things i feel like i'm working really hard for not as much payoff as as i would like but i guess that's that's a lot of people when they start businesses or they begin some kind of creative endeavor you have to be willing to work in almost complete obscurity for a long time before you find that overnight success um yeah so that is it that is it just uh just a coffee talk today about where i am and combating that that sense of comparison with other people it doesn't do anybody any good comparison is the thief of joy people say and people are right so if you're a writer and i i assume that you're either a writer or reader if you're watching this then do your best to not look around at what other people are doing to compare your success to others but instead to learn from people and remember to celebrate all of those wins along the way i have had all these small little victories even this week even this week i got to see the first draft of the kingdoms on fire cover and it's awesome it's really cool i'll be sharing that with you relatively soon but yeah stay the course you can do it we can do it i will have some exciting announcements coming up pretty soon but until then have a good life be of good cheer and don't forget to subscribe for more english nerdy goodness all right i'll see you later bye

Channel: English Nerd

Views: 110

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: english nerd

Id: wcYjdcQ_zrE

Length: 10min 45sec (645 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 12 2021