NEVER EVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM

Dream Big, Think Positive, Take Risks, Embrace Challenges, Pursue Vision, Refuse to Quit and many more of phrases like these rule our world today. Well, I can tell you, they are easier said, taught or preached than done. In a world besieged with many unresolved crisis and problems covering every sphere of life, people are becoming more pessimistic than ever before.

These phrases may seem difficult to apply, but they work. If only we are willing and ready to work them. At the beginning of the year, I made some decisions, as many people do. By the third month, those resolutions were still hidden in my diary and at a point, I got angry with myself.

Why do I always abandon my personal projects?

I am not lazy. I work hard, sometimes too much for my own good, but there are some personal goals I set for myself year after year and I’m still unable to achieve.

So I got angry!

I looked inward.

I looked upward.

I looked outward.

I remembered many of these phrases that were suppose to push me towards achieving my goals and I decided to do what I preach.

Inwardly, I drew strength to continue; to take risks or steps of faith; to pursue vision.

Upwardly, I received grace from God to embrace the challenges and refuse to quit. His Word keeps my thoughts positive and makes me see that the future He has shown me is achievable.

Outwardly, I enjoyed help from my friends and dream supporters. Top on the list is my husband and cheerleader. In his own ways, he continues to prod me to realize those big dreams.

Well, four months later, came READ – The Big Deal About Reading.

A month after came the Musical Video of our Children’s Church in Winners’ Chapel International Gotera - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. After months of dreaming and praying, more months of planning and practicing and still more months of restless days and sleepless nights, COME TO THE LORD’S HOUSE is released.

Like every project, it’s not a product of personal effort. Many people contributed spiritually, financially, creatively, physically and even emotionally. Ha ha ha. I can’t tell you the amount and varieties of emotions spent, especially on locations. The wonderful teachers in our Children's Church served tirelessly at various stages of the production. We had help from supporting parents, active youths and our beloved pastor. 

To the glory of God alone, the work is done and my prayer is that it will bless lives especially Christian Children worldwide.

I have learnt quite a lot from these two projects.

1.    Dream Big. Let your dream be bigger than you.

2. Share your dream with like-minded people who will help nurture and support it.

3.     Lean solely on God.

4.    Take steps. I mean, take practical steps. As you go, God goes with you.

5.    Work with people. You can never achieve your dreams all by yourself. Also remember that, there are dream killers and dream supporters.

6.  Never, never, ever, ever give up on that dream; no matter how difficult it seems, it is achievable.

Enjoy God’s Exceeding Grace

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BUILDING YOUR WRITING PLATFORM

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen 

Your platform as a writer could make or break your chances of selling a book proposal or manuscript to a publishing house or even to an agent. Celebrities, movie stars, politicians, billionaires, and top models have ready-made platforms: their own fame and visibility (and the public's insatiable curiosity)! They are practically guaranteed instant publicity.

Regular folk, however, aren't always able to attract or hold the attention of the masses - nor do they really want to. Some writing and publishing experts say this is an automatic death sentence to a query or proposal. If you don't have a platform, you won't get published.

WHAT A PLATFORM IS AND DOES

Your platform is how you promote yourself.

To build your platform, you need to be an entrepreneur and marketing guru with established followers. It's a tall order but take heart! In our modern technological age, it's quite possible and perhaps not too difficult to do.

Your platform:

Drives book sales.

Proves your ability as a writer to promote and sell your book on a national or international level.

Provides a measure of security to the publisher.

Acts as a vehicle to promote your book and you, the writer.

According to Frishman and Spizman's Author 101 Bestselling Book Proposals: The Insider's Guide to Selling Your Work, platforms are not only necessary they're essential. The authors of this book quote many agents and publishers who drive home the importance of platforms. Fortunately Frishman and Spizman also provide several suggestions for building your platform which you may already be doing.

  

10 WAYS TO BUILD YOUR PLATFORM

1.      Build your own website with blogs, forums, newsletters, and photos.

2.      Blog or write for an established website.

3.      Figure out what your specialty or niche is.

4.      Give talks about your specialty in schools, churches,

5.      libraries, local groups, etc.

6.      Teach classes or offer workshops.

7.      Offer products or services related to your niche.

8.      Participate in online communities and forums.

9. Sell or donate articles or bits of book chapters to magazines, newspapers, or newsletters.

10. Conduct focus groups or use surveys to convince    publishers that your idea has merit and will sell.

11.  Ask an organization to commit to buying a hundred or so copies of your published book and include their letter of commitment with your book proposal.

The above 10 suggestions aren't all from Author 101 Bestselling Book Proposals: The Insider's Guide to Selling Your Work, but the following four alternative methods are.

    

DIFFERENT WAYS TO BUILD YOUR PLATFORM

1. Hire a book publicist. 
2. Make readers (publishers, editors, agents) laugh. Learn to write humorously.
3. Secure an agent who believes in you.  
4. Plug into an established series. For example, tailor your book idea to fit the Chicken Soup series, or the Dummies line. 
5. Other ideas include teaming up with a professional or celebrity, or contacting a small press for your first book. 
6. Stick to it.  Doris Lessing said, "What I had that others did was a capacity for sticking to it."

Some writers self-publish their own books and are picked up by a publishing house What Color is Your Parachute began that way! (He may have had a platform, though). Other writers, such as Cancer Vixen author Marissa Acocella Marchetto, use completely different methods to tell their story - such as cartoons or graphic novels.

Don't give up hope even if you don't have a platform and even if rejection seems to follow you everywhere. It can seem discouraging or depressing to face the task of establishing yourself publicly in this world, but remember that thousands of books are published every year and not every writer is firmly established on a platform!
Don't just focus on your idea, your book proposal, and your manuscript --- visualize them! Share what you love to do with the world, and your platform will build itself. (With a little luck)

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen is pursuing professional bliss! In addition to Psychology at Suite101 http://psychology.suite101.com/ , she writes for health and wellness magazines and the local paper....but her dream is to write non-fiction books that encourage and inspire people to Live Big.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS