Be Positive and Proactive to Silence Author Doubt

By Guest Beth Vogt 

Doubt is part of an author’s journey. 

Any and every author, obscure or famous, struggles with believing they are good enough. That they’ve got what it takes to be a success, however they define success.

And there are hundreds of ways to define success.

But that, friends, is another blog post. (I believe I’ve already written one on this topic.)

There are lots of different ways to deal with doubt. Some well-known authors drink or do drugs. *cough* Hemingway … Faulkner … Poe … *cough*

Not recommending that.

Some authors look to their reviews to bolster their flagging ego. But what do you do with the less than positive reviews?

Other authors just ride the mental merry-go-round and go ‘round and ‘round, up and down, between doubt and confidence.

I’d like to suggest that being positive and proactive is one of the best ways to silence doubt. I’m not talking about reciting “I know my worth” self-affirmations. Although, if that helps you, please continue.

One way to step away from the writer’s search for significance is to stop thinking about yourself. Focus on another author instead. Go from woe-is-me to Yay-you by doing these simple things:

1.     Share another author’s social media post about their book. We all know authors would rather be writing than marketing. But we also know writers need to market. Help another writer expand their social media reach by retweeting a tweet or sharing an Instagram post. 

2.     Share a quote from their book on your Instagram feed or story. No, you don’t need to be a full-fledged bookstagrammer with a bio and candles and props to do this. Keep it simple. Use a Picmonkey or Canva template and type up a quote. Or take a photo of the book’s cover and again, using a graphic design tool, add a book quote – maybe the first line? – to the photo. TIP: Asked to read a book for endorsement? This is a great time to write down quotes to use later.

3.     Celebrate an author-friend’s book on its release day. We all love birthdays, right? It’s also fun to celebrate book birthdays, the day a book launches. Again, you can do something as simple as saying, “Happy Book Birthday!” on an author’s Facebook page. I’ve made a graphic that I post on authors-friends pages when they have a book birthday. 

When you’re busy helping out other authors, it encourages them and it also cheers you up, too. Remember, when in doubt, help another author out.

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Beth has graciously offered to give away one copy of one of the books from her Thatcher Sisters Series! Winner's choice of which book (U.S. residents only, please). Let us know in the comments if you'd like to be entered.

Check out Beth's new release from Tyndale!

How can you choose what is right for you when your decision will break the heart of someone you love?

Having abandoned her childhood dream years ago, Johanna Thatcher knows what she wants from life. Discovering that her fiancé was cheating on her only convinces Johanna it’s best to maintain control and protect her heart.

Despite years of distance and friction, Johanna and her sisters, Jillian and Payton, have moved from a truce toward a fragile friendship. But then Johanna reveals she has the one thing Jillian wants most and may never have—and Johanna doesn’t want it. As Johanna wrestles with a choice that will change her life and her relationships with her sisters forever, the cracks in Jillian’s marriage and faith deepen. Through it all, the Thatcher sisters must decide once and for all what it means to be family.

AUTHOR BIO: 

Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Having authored nine contemporary romance novels and novellas, The Best We’ve Been, the final book in Beth’s Thatcher Sisters Series with Tyndale House Publishers, releasers May 2020. Other books in the women’s fiction series include Things I Never Told You, which won the 2019 AWSA Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year, and Moments We Forget. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. Visit Beth at bethvogt.com.

Be an Influential Reader

By Guest Beth Vogt

Most authors I know like to connect with readers.

Oh, I know how authors are portrayed at times: 

1.     We’re introverted to the point of being hermits. 

2.     We protect our creative time beyond all reason, like Gollum treasures the One Ring to Rule Them All. 

3.     When we do engage in conversations, we like to talk about books—our books, other writers’ books—and anything book-related, like plots, characters, and dialogue. 

To which I say, well, yes, sometimes we are pensive. And protective. And preoccupied. And authors are #1 and #2 especially when we’re on deadline. And #3? All. The. Time. 

But even so, most authors like to connect with readers. 

It’s fun to hear what readers enjoy about a book we’ve written. Or how readers connect with a particular character. Or when a reader is encouraged by a book we’ve written—when the spiritual truth we’ve woven through our novels ministers to them or gives them hope. That’s gold.

Negative reviews . . . um . . . yeah, those are harder on us. And that’s another blog post.

During the early stages of plotting my new release, Moments We Forget, I had a casual interaction with a reader. However, our brief conversation caused me to rethink how I was writing one of the plotlines of the story. This reader asked a simple “What’s going to happen next?” kind of question, and I realized she wasn’t the only reader who would want an answer to the question.

As the author, I needed to ask the “What’s going to happen?” question if I wanted to write a novel that would satisfy my readers. By asking myself the question—and ensuring I answered it—I added deeper emotional and spiritual layers to the story. 

In writing the Thatcher Sisters series, I didn’t tie up all the loose ends at the end of book one, Things I Never Told You, which meant there would be several “What’s going to happen?” story lines continuing in book two, Moments We Forget. I didn’t do that to frustrate readers—really, I didn’t. 

I left some loose ends because life is like that. Relationships, decisions, and questions don’t always get tied up with a nice neat bow because we want them to be resolved by a certain time. And reaching the end of a book doesn’t mean that everything should be completely decided, either. Yes, there needs to be a sense of closure, of character arc—meaning the main characters have changed and discovered truth. There also should be a sense of hope. But, since one of my goals as an author is to write realistic books, I don’t believe everything has to be perfect because, well, that’s not true to life. 

I’ll be forever grateful to my reader (waving at you, Gail!) for asking me, “What’s going to happen next?” because that simple question helped me make Moments We Forget a better book. Never doubt the influence of a reader on an author! 

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Missy here. Let's chat today about how we authors have been influenced by readers. And readers, tell us what you think it's important that we know!

Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind doors marked Never. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, as well as a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner and a 2015 RITA Award finalist. Beth’s latest novel, Moments We Forget, book two in the Thatcher Sisters Series, releases from Tyndale House Publishers in May 2019. Visit Beth at bethvogt.com.

Moments We Forget

Jillian Thatcher has spent most of her life playing the family peacemaker, caught in the middle between her driven, talented older sister and her younger, spotlight-stealing twin sisters. Then on the night of her engagement party, a cancer diagnosis threatens to once again steal her chance to shine.

Now, Jillian’s on the road to recovery after finally finishing chemo and radiation, but residual effects of the treatment keep her from reclaiming her life as she’d hoped. And just when her dreams might be falling into place, a life-altering revelation from her husband sends her reeling again.

Will Jillian ever achieve her own dreams, or will she always be “just Jillian,” the less-than Thatcher sister? Can she count on her sisters as she tries to step into a stronger place, or are they stuck in their childhood roles forever?

The Real People Populating My Fiction

Jan here, privileged to welcome Beth Vogt to Seekerville today!

Beth's new release, Things I Never Told You, is a fascinating book filled with unforgettable characters. As the story unfolds we learn the depth of the tragedy that happened the night Pepper Thatcher died. I won't give away the ending for you, but this book will have you examining your own family relationships and how one person's faith can make all the difference in the world.

So let's give Beth a warm Seekerville welcome!

The Real People Populating My Fiction

by Beth Vogt

I often joke about hanging out with imaginary characters. I’m a novelist—it comes with the job description. I write books filled with made-up people.

But sometimes real people end up in my novels—and I’m not referring to my main characters crossing paths with a well-known public figure, either. No, I take someone I know and add them to my cast of characters.

Sometimes I may be fast drafting and come across a nameless secondary character. I pause and mentally scroll through my friends . . . and within minutes, my character is named. Sometimes I ask my friend ahead of time, “Is it okay if I use your name in my novel?” (I’ve never had anyone say no. Of course, I never use their names for villains.) And sometimes—especially if the friend is a writer, too—I let them discover their name tucked away in my book when they read it for the first time. It’s always fun to get that “I found it!” text or instant message. The most recent one went like this:

P. 144 Read. Reread. Wait. Awww!!! Tears in eyes. J

But in Things I Never Told You, which just released from Tyndale House on May 8, I did something a little different. My main character, Payton Thatcher, played volleyball with her identical twin sister, Pepper, in high school. And when I bring now-adult Payton back to the volleyball court, I needed a coach and a team.

Hmmmm.

It just so happens my seventeen-year-old daughter, Christa, plays year-round volleyball. (Wonder no more why Payton played volleyball.)

Katelyn getting ready to serve

A couple of the girls whom readers meet on the team? They were named after some of my daughter’s closest friends on the volleyball court: Chandler and Katelyn.

Chandler and Christa on the Volleyball Court

And the coach in Things I Never Told You? I named her Sydney—after the young woman who coached my daughter for three years in club volleyball. Yes, I needed a name for my imaginary volleyball coach, but I also intentionally modeled the fictional coach Sydney after the real-life coach, Sydney Nelson.

Daughter Christa and Coach Sydney

My coach in Things I Never Told You had tremendous influence in Payton Thatcher’s life—so much so that it shaped who Payton became as an adult and reaches across the heartache that has shut Payton away from her dreams. Fictional Sydney is the kind of coach who doesn’t just teach girls volleyball—she sees them as individuals and mentors them, both on and off the court. She believes in competing . . . and she believes in caring about them, through volleyball seasons and the seasons of life—for years to come. The girls are always “her girls.”

Coach Sydney with the club team

And I didn’t have to make any of that up because I’d seen it all lived out in Sydney Nelson as she coached my daughter.

About the Author

Beth K. Vogt is a nonfiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind doors marked Never. Things I Never Told You, releasing May 2018, is Beth’s first novel in her women’s fiction series for Tyndale House Publishers.

Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA Award finalist. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. Having authored nine contemporary romance novels or novellas, Beth believes there’s more to happily ever after than the fairy tales tell us.

An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Novel Rocket and also enjoys speaking to writers’ groups and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband, Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories. Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.

Things I Never Told You by Beth K. Vogt

ISBNs: 978-1-4964-2723-6 & 978-1-4964-2724-3

Hardcover: $24.99 & Softcover: $15.99

May 2018

Tyndale.com

You can order Things I Never Told You

Here!

Or comment below to be entered in the giveaway of one copy of Beth's book! (domestic only, please)