Only a couple of weeks ago, I complained to a dear friend over a mug of chai latte that I had fallen out of love with The Love Project.
She had to laugh at the pun but also at the fact that I had managed to fall out of love with the very thing that brought me love. Funny, I agreed. But I just couldn’t seem to find the energy to care anymore than I already had. I had given the writing part two years of my life and almost one year to the marketing and submission part. I had sent out loads of agent letters and was just waiting to hear back. In my mind, one of them would sign me up and I would live happily every after typing away at my Mac laptop in hip coffee shops and never counting the hours between 9 and 5 again.
However, last week, as you know, I received feedback from an agent that I was quick to interpret as rejection. A few days and great advice from close ones later, I now look at it with a rejuvenated eye and I remind myself of the old mantra ”Rejection is redirection”. And even though the letter was not a rejection per se nor do I have to redirect the entire architecture of my book, I can see what it really brought into my life: renewed passion for The Love Project and a bit of perspective.
The perspective is that I may have given it three years, but to get it on the shelves of Waterstones I will most likely have to give it at least another three. The truth is I had been focusing on myself all this time, promoting myself as a writer, creating expectation for the book, but hardly considering that I am probably siting on a wealth of valuable information that so many of my readers and followers can use right now. Not when I get published and they have paid for their copy of my posh hardback cover, but now, when they probably really need it.
So I made a decision. Even though I will continue slave away in the background to get my book agented and published, I will focus my efforts into sharing my knowledge. For this reason I created a Facebook Group that I would encourage you to join because I will be sharing tools, tips and motivation for you to start, manage and complete your own Love Project (if you feel so inclined, of course!). So go ahead, join The Love Project Facebook Group and let me know what you think. But be warned: I’m only getting started!
