Can We Re-Up?

3 Things That Will Help

I just did something I’ve never done before. I turned in my completed draft for the book I’m writing to my editor! It was a momentous thing that was accomplished by a stunningly ordinary click at the end of a very regular looking email, but man! What the attachment on that email represented for me?

Lots

Of

Work

I’m not sure why I had this impression that it would be a month or so before my editor got back to me with edits and revisions, but somehow, I thought I’d have this gap-month where there would be nothing to do on this project that has been so consuming for the last year! I could think about things I’ve put off…”Janice, just wait till your draft is submitted” has been a bit of a mantra of late. My mentor group has pressed me, “write your book, Janice, don’t get distracted!” And so I did! And I was expecting this break between submission and the next big effort. But you know what happened? My editor said, “ok, let’s set up a meeting next week to talk about it.”  NEXT WEEK?!?!?! What happened to my month? And…yikes, what are they going to say? I suddenly realize I need to be prepared to hear their feedback and actually face what will undoubtedly be another round of?

Lots

Of

Work

Does anyone relate to this? I think we have all been expecting that COVID was behind us, that we could forget our masks when we went out, and that we could be confident of in person, indoor stuff happening…I dunno, forever?! But no. We have to re-up our efforts and watch those delicious freedoms get rolled back in order to keep people safe. Not what we were expecting. What do we need to re-up? I was thinking of this in relationship to my book project and three things cross-over.

  1. We need to remember our why. I’m writing this book for so many reasons, but a huge one is to help the suffering humans learn about the kind of self-care that will actually sustain them. That can get a little lost for me when intimidation stares me down. For all of us?let’s remember our why?we wear masks and we’re careful again because we can all spread this new variant even if we are vaccinated. And this one is impacting kids a lot more. There’s a big ‘why’ for all of us to claim.
  2. Be impressed that you?ve come this far. When I look at the work ahead of me, I can lean on the fact that I got this book written during the Pandemic with a really big client load. Similarly, look back at the resilient and strong parts of yourself that showed up in the Pandemic. You still have those now and those parts of yourself can help you make it through the next challenge.
  3. Get your cheering squad in place. To get this project done, I have absolutely needed my tribe in place who encouraged me to this point (you know who you are?THANK YOU!!). We all need encouragement to do what we do in the world with the challenge of prolonged COVID realities. Who is your tribe? Talk with them about how to be connected and what types of encouragement are best for you. Make a pact that you will lean on each other and help each other press through this phase.

Hanging onto these things will help us all to come together and re-up for the challenge ahead. Together, we can do it.

Look for my book coming out in the fall of 2022. The working title now is, Living Better: Self-Care for your Inner World.

3 Responses

  1. Janice, thank you for these 3 directions. they are perfect for me right now as i leave InterVarsity and enter my “golden” years.
    I look forward to your book…to read and to share.

  2. Way to go!! I wrote a book once and rewrote it 8 times after 8 different readers sent comments and edits. It was truly worth it to re-up each time. Wonderful that you have done this.
    Kathy

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