What's Your Fuel?

By Suzie Carr
@girl_novelist

As a novelist, I’m always interested to learn what motivates people to go beyond their comfort levels to that place where real growth happens. When creating characters, I enjoy learning lessons through them. What makes them act the way they do? Why do they care so deeply for certain things? How did they become so cynical, so happy or so fearful?

We’re all driven by different things. Our past experiences shape the way we view the world and the way we interact with others. We all come equipped with driving forces that dig deep and push us to or pull us away from defining moments.

I’m driven by the word CAN’T. When someone tells me I can’t do something, I do it double-time.  The reason for this motivation digs deep.

When I was in kindergarten and sitting in a circle for story time, a girl bullied me. Each time I’d raise my hand to answer a question, she’d hit me. After several grueling rounds of this, I stopped raising my hand and eventually lost all confidence to speak to anyone but my best friend, Todd, and my immediate family members. For two years, I spoke only to them.

Bribed with adventures and treats that would make any well-adjusted child leap for joy, I turned my back on any hope of being a ‘normal’ kid. Then one day, my best friend begged me to speak to his mother because that was the only way I could go to his baseball game. For three hours, I stood next to his mom as she watched soap operas and waited patiently for me to whisper something, anything, in her ear.

Todd begged and cried for me to brave up and say something. By the end of the third hour, my best friend knelt down exhausted and said to me, “I knew you couldn’t do it.” This little action switched something in me so powerful that I managed to whisper ‘yes’ into his mom’s ear.

I haven’t been able to stop talking since.

Fast forward to high school English class. To graduate, I needed to present my book report to the class. I refused, deathly afraid of public speaking. My English teacher allowed me to present it to him after school. When I finished, he told me, “You won’t succeed in a professional setting, so get used to working harder instead of smarter. That little insult sparked an inferno inside of me and I marched off to college shortly after and majored in public speaking, and graduated Summa Cum Laude.

Whenever someone tells me I can’t accomplish something, I accomplish the S*#T out of it!

That is my fuel.

What’s yours? What gets you out of your comfort zone?

All the Best,

Suzie

I feel it's critical to support the community, and so I've committed to donate a portion of my book sale proceeds to the NOH8 Campaign (www.noh8campaign.com).

No? Ha! Watch me.

By Suzie Carr
@girl_novelist

When you love what you are doing, nothing in this universe will ever stop you from doing it. 
I dreamed of being a novelist since I was a senior in high school. Back then, I’d sit under the maple tree in my backyard on warm, sunny days and free write. I’d write in the car on road trips. I’d write in the waiting room of my dentist, doctor, or hairdresser. I’d write anywhere a pen and notepad was allowed.

Find what you love and do it.
I had to become a novelist. I couldn’t live any other life. This hunger has thrived in me for years. It’s seen me through the writing of a couple of novels that sat on my computer waiting to be read by someone other than me.

You are the determining factor in your destiny. No one else has that power.
With all major publishers in the lgbt genre closefisted from receiving unsolicited manuscripts from an unagented writer, my future as a novelist seemed pretty bleak by most standards. But, I refused to give up hope.

I kept writing anyway, refusing to allow a handful of people to get in my way and tell me no. I wouldn’t allow anyone to control my destiny like that. I loved creating fictional worlds too much to have ever allowed that to happen. I could feel this love, like a tickle deep down in my core. That was what I held onto.

Believing in your dreams pays off.
I didn’t know how I would ever get my books out there for readers to read, but I just knew it would happen. Just as the earth rotates, the tide pushes in and rushes back out, the sun rises and the sun sets, I too, knew, without a doubt, I would end up a novelist. I would work hard, learn my trade, learn from other’s succeeding in my trade, and never stop learning and refining.

Fast forward a few years into my hard work to the fall of 2010. I sat in the front row of an investment class. I listened to a successful investor educate us on the importance of resolve and the will to succeed. Then, he said something that made me feel like he was talking directly to me. He said one of his dreams was to write a book about investing. He did. He then bypassed all traditional publishers and opted for self-publishing. His words that still echo in my mind are, “Everyone should experience the process of writing a book. It’s truly cathartic.”

I went home that night with a beating heart that wouldn’t quit. I logged onto Amazon and discovered the path that would lead me to my destiny as a novelist.

It’s your life, your passion, your destiny.
I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the handful of people who thought they could dictate my future. No way will I ever give anyone that kind of power over my life, over my passion, over my destiny. I’m a novelist not out of luck, but out of hard work, out of a hunger to learn and refine, and most importantly, out of the love of it all.

Have faith in what you love.
Never let anyone tell you no. You have the power to say yes to anything that tickles your core, anything that gets your heart pumping, anything that you desire.

Wishing you much success,
Suzie Carr

I feel it's critical to support the community, and so I've committed to donate a portion of my book sale proceeds to the NOH8 Campaign (www.noh8campaign.com).

 

All The Right Moves

When the student is ready, the master appears. ~Buddhist Proverb

by: Suzie Carr
@girl_novelist

I’m goal-oriented. I have my goal list pinned to my corkboard, taped to my bathroom mirror, even displayed on a dry-erase board in my hallway. If it’s in my sight, I’m going to tackle it. So, naturally, it comes as no surprise that I’ve failed to put certain bucket-items on these lists, items like ‘go skydiving’ and ‘sleep under the stars without a tent’ and ‘run a marathon’. After all, out of sight, out of mind, right?! Admirable as these are, I love my feet safely on the ground, my head resting against a tempurpedic pillow, and my relaxed state of mind during a manageable three mile run. 

My goals are slightly less adventurous.

I just recently added a new practical goal to my list, and this one will most definitely come as a surprise to all. You see, I’m about to admit something no novelist should feel comfy admitting… I stink at typing. Up until now, I have never had a clue how to type like a writer should. So, new to my list is: Keyboarding 101.

A little crazy, right? I’ve written three novels and am writing my fourth now, and I am just now learning what ‘home keys’ are. I am also just learning that my left pinky depresses the ‘a’ key and that the ‘?’ key is near the ‘shift’ key and not on the top row where all the other important symbols are located.

I can get by alright with my cavewoman style typing methods, but clearly a better method exists.

So, for fifteen minutes every day, I load up my Keyboarding Pro software and challenge my fingers to move in ways they’ve never moved before.

I often wonder how much time I’ve wasted over the years hitting backspace and delete. In a day’s time, I would bet I hit them a thousand times. Well, now, three weeks into my lessons, I am happy to report that I typed the last 300 or so words of this blog hitting backspace only twice (big smile).

What about you? Is there a new skill you have always wanted to learn, but haven’t gotten around to learning it? What are you waiting for?

Enjoying Life,

Suzie Carr

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I feel it's critical to support the community, and so I've committed to donate a portion of my book sale proceeds to Chely Wright's LikeMe foundation (http://likeme.org/) to help provide support, resources and education to LGBT individuals, and their families and friends.

Follow me on Facebook to keep up on my latest projects! www.facebook.com/suziecarr.author

A Worthy Goal

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."
Zig Ziglar

by: Suzie Carr
@girl_novelist

After several years of living enviously and vicariously through other people’s good fortunes, a friend said to me, “If you don’t take charge of your life, someone else will.”

Up to that point, I had been living my life afraid to assert myself, afraid to rely too heavily on unrealistic dreams. So, this phrase, swimming in truthful murk, stung like hell.

I couldn’t think of a single moment in time when I’d morphed into this person who allowed obstacles to cut into my dreams. But, somehow I’d allowed these challenges access to my primordial self, turning me into a victim of happenstance instead of a warrior claiming victory over my life.

No more my brain screamed.

My friend’s phrase had spun me into action. Compelled to act, I immediately set a goal to improve upon three areas of my life that I felt were most important to regaining my self-worth and well-being: to educate myself on how to invest, to get into the best physical shape of my life, and to write my butt off so I could work towards my lifetime dream of becoming a full time novelist.

That afternoon, I sat down at my dining room table with a pen in hand, and scribbled down the action steps I’d need to take to accomplish these three ideals. To see a goal in writing actually made it come alive for me. I couldn't ignore what I wanted to achieve a moment longer.

I broke each action step down into daily tasks and carried them with me in my pocketbook. When the craving to sleep in a little longer or watch some addictive television show tempted me, I thought about my daily list and how empowered I’d feel at the end of that day if I had checked off all the items.

With each day that passed, I became more and more determined to learn about bearish and bullish markets, to challenge my body physically with a good run or kettle bell workout, and to refine and publish my three novels.  Amazing what a little action each day could do for a gal!

Now, as I look back over this period of time, an easy smile rests on my face because all those little acts have added up to something powerful and tangible. I feel more alive than I did when I was in my twenties, I feel more financially empowered for my future, and I feel more grateful than ever that I am connecting with hundreds of readers a month now through my novels.

I have taken back the control and am continuing to steer my life in the direction I want it to go.

For the first time in my life, I am realizing that I can do anything I set my mind to doing.

I came across a great blog that speaks to the importance of setting goals. Randall Rogers talks about how setting goals is universal.

Here's to setting great goals,

Suzie Carr

****
I feel it's critical to support the community, and so I've committed to donate a portion of my book sale proceeds to Chely Wright's LikeMe foundation (http://likeme.org/) to help provide support, resources and education to LGBT individuals, and their families and friends.

Follow me on Facebook to keep up on my latest projects! www.facebook.com/suziecarr.author