January 3, 2024 • 17 mins
Life has a way of tossing curveballs that can either strike us out or propel us to new heights. When my home was devastated by a flood, it felt like a heart-wrenching setback, but that experience became a catalyst for growth and new opportunities in my writing and work. Embrace change with me, Wendy H Jones, as I recount the resilience it took to rebuild and how this unexpected twist led to inspiring roles like managing a crime anthology and pioneering the Sisters in Crime presence on TikTok.
This episode isn't just about overcoming personal adversity; it's a testament to the power of venturing into uncharted territories. I take you along on my journey into historical fiction, sharing the trepidation and anticipation of awaiting feedback from my agent. Discover the joys of fostering creative spirits through a writing retreat in Scotland and leading a vibrant Facebook group for women writers. Together, we'll explore the importance of extending beyond familiar confines, whether it's trying your hand at flash fiction or supporting fellow authors to flourish in their craft. Join me as I reveal how embracing the unknown can unlock a world of exhilarating possibilities for any writer willing to step out and seize them.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi and welcome to the Writing and Marketing Show
brought to you by author Wendy HJones.
This show does exactly what itsays on the tin.
It's jam-packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news
to help you with the business ofwriting.
It's all wrapped up in onelively podcast.
So it's time to get on with theshow.
(00:23):
And welcome to episode 193 ofthe Writing and Marketing Show
with author entrepreneur Wendy HJones.
Today, I'm going to be talkingabout stepping out of your
comfort zone, because that issomething that I am thinking
about at the moment and I thinkit's something that we can all
learn from as authors.
But before that, I need tostart the show with an apology.
(00:44):
I'm apologising because Ihaven't been around for a while
since the end of October in factand there is a reason for that.
Unfortunately, as I wasfinishing up my book tour of the
States, I got word that myhouse in the UK had been flooded
.
It was just a few days before Iwas due to go back, so I went
back at the normal time and Ihave had to deal with all the
(01:06):
issues to do with flooding.
So, before you think thingswere too bad, my office was
completely flooded, as was mygarage and my utility room.
So everything has gone fromthem, including a lot of my
writing books and a lot of otherthings, a lot of books.
My computer was safe, thankgoodness, but I have had to move
(01:30):
out my house while they sortthings out and it has meant a
lot of time dealing withinsurance companies.
My car was also flooded andwritten off and I have had to
spend hours and hours and hourson the phone dealing with
insurance companies.
I'm not complaining too muchbecause I'm better off than a
(01:54):
lot of people in the world.
I'm safe, I'm warned.
My insurance company moved meinto a towel for a a few weeks
and then I have moved in with arelative and I'm very fortunate
that he has given me his office.
So I have an office and I canstart doing podcasts and getting
(02:15):
on with writing and work again,but I'm still out of my house
and it has taken up a lot ofemotional energy.
You cannot believe how muchemotional and physical energy is
taken up dealing with insurancecompanies.
My house insurance has beenbrilliant.
The car insurance, well, that'sanother matter altogether, but
(02:35):
we won't go down that routebecause I'm not here to slag any
organisations off, but I havefound that a difficult process.
I now have a new car, my housewill get fixed, I will move back
into it and everything will begood.
So I'm very fortunate and noone was hurt in my street.
(02:56):
It was just that we've all hadto have repairs done and, as I
say, I'm safe, I'm warm, I'vegot a roof over my head, I've
got food to eat, so I'm notcomplaining.
It's not a complaint, it's justan explanation as to why I've
been missing.
As you can tell, I'm notfeeling so well today either.
(03:18):
I sound a bit croaky.
That's because I have a chestinfection and an extremely sore
throat.
But I didn't want to leave itany longer because I wanted to
make sure that I brought thepodcast back and I apologise for
the delay To all those who aresupporting me on Patreon.
I apologise that I haven't beenaround.
(03:39):
You're not getting your money'sworth and I'm really sorry
about that, but it will be back,it will be regular and we'll be
here every week and you willget your money's worth again.
So if you would like to supportme on Patreon, trust me, I
would be extremely grateful atthe moment because, as you can
imagine, with a flood, there's alot of money having to be paid
(04:00):
out for various things, but youknow so.
But I know times are hard foreveryone.
But if you would like tosupport me on Patreon, you can
do so by going to patreoncomforward slash wendahachjounds,
and you can support me for aslittle as three dollars a month
and I would be very grateful.
It would mean that you're gladI'm back and doing the show and
(04:21):
it would mean that you wouldlike me to continue, because I
really would like to continue.
In the normal scheme of things,it would have been four years
since I started the show and infact, it is four years since I
started the show, but it's notfour years worth of episodes
because of the few that I missedbecause of the flooding.
(04:41):
So what of today?
Well, today I've been thinking,because it's a new year.
Very often we think about goals.
We think about, you know,actions we can take to get to
the goals, and I've beenthinking about that, like
everyone else.
But I've also been thinkingabout stepping out of your
comfort zone.
(05:02):
There's a couple of things thatI'm going to be doing this year
which are different to mynormal you know, normal work.
I am going to be hopefullymanaging an anthology, and I
know I've done this before, Ihave done several before, but
(05:22):
this is slightly different.
I can't say too much at themoment until it's all announced,
but I'm going to be the personwho manages and publishes the
anthology and I'm very excitedabout that.
It's going to be a crimeanthology and it will be out in
about a year's time, hopefully.
So I'm definitely stepping outof my comfort zone with that one
(05:44):
because I'm going to be headingit up and that is exciting.
The other thing that I'mstepping out of my comfort zone
with I know I love TikTok andI've told you before that I love
TikTok, but I am taking over asthe TikTok lead for the Sisters
in Crime organisation and I amloving that.
(06:07):
Now it launches officially onthe 4th of January 2024, if
you're listening to this in thefuture.
So when you listen to this, ifyou're listening to it, when the
date it comes out on the 3rd ofJanuary 2024, then the Sisters
in Crime TikTok channel will beofficially launched on the 4th.
We've already done a bit of asoft launch so we can get some
(06:27):
videos up, but we're going to bedoing a proper launch on the
4th and I'm very excited abouttaking on the lead and managing
that on behalf of Sisters inCrime.
If you go over to TikTok, youcan find us on Sync National
that's S-I-N-C National, and youcan follow us on TikTok and I
(06:52):
would be very grateful becausewe'd like to get to a thousand
followers so we can start to doTikTok lives and give everyone
over on TikTok value for themoney that they don't pay on
TikTok.
We'd like to give them valuefrom the channel and, as I say,
I'm very excited about doingthis.
And so that's the second thingthat I'm stepping out of my
(07:14):
comfort zone.
With those of you who have beenfollowing my journey of my
historical fiction, then I'vebeen writing up a storm with
that and I need to get that intomy editor and that's definitely
stepping out of my editor to myeditor and my agent.
That's definitely stepping outof my comfort zone because the
(07:35):
agent will be giving me feedbackon what I can do to improve it.
I will be working on that and Iwill be hopefully she'll be
pitching it to publishers for me.
So that's definitely out of mycomfort zone at the moment, but
I'm enjoying it, I'm loving it.
(07:56):
So I'm really on a lot offronts.
I'm thinking that we should bestepping out of our comfort zone
, because when you step out ofyour comfort zone it challenges
you, it makes you think indifferent ways, it makes you
look at your writing indifferent ways, it makes you
look at your author business indifferent ways, and that is
(08:17):
always a good thing, because weget into a rut.
I'm a crime writer on the whole,although I do write non-fiction
as well, but on the whole I'm acrime writer, so I tend to just
stick to mystery crime, cosymystery, things like that.
I'm also a novel writer.
I like full length books.
I like to have a lot of wordsto say things in.
(08:39):
Listen, you're probably saying,yes, we know, wendy, you do
like a lot of words to saythings in.
But I'm very excited aboutdoing anthologies as well,
because it's not just stickingoutside your genre.
So I'm moving away from justcrime writing to this historical
fiction.
But I'm also looking to do moreflash fiction and short stories
(09:03):
this year as well.
So I will be looking foranthologies.
I will definitely be pitchingto anthologies in the hope that
I will get some accepted forpublication.
So that's another thing.
I'm stepping out of my comfortzone.
With the other thing I'm goingto be stepping out of my comfort
zone with is I am going to bewriting retreats now.
(09:27):
I have run conferences in thepast.
I've been involved in retreats,but this is the first time I'll
be running one.
I'm running one in Scotland inFebruary with my new business,
oscot publishing in retreats,and that is something you could
think about stepping out of yourcomfort zone with.
Have you thought about helpingothers with their writing
journey?
And you can do that in a lot ofdifferent ways.
(09:48):
I do it by being a writingcouch.
I do it by doing this podcast,that's to help people with the
writing journeys.
I do it through my retreats.
I do it through speaking atconferences.
I do it through editing.
I love helping other people.
I also do it through myFacebook group, which is called
(10:08):
Women Writers, editors, agentsand Publishers.
Now, before everybody thinks,oh, why have you stuck to women?
I inherited the group about twoyears ago 18 months ago and it
had that title.
So I've basically taken it overwith that title and I've grown
it in the last 18 months from6,000 members to almost 100,000
(10:33):
members and I never thought Iwould be doing a group like that
.
So have you thought aboutrunning a Facebook group to help
other writers, or you know,think differently.
Think how you can help others.
Think how you can change whatyou're doing.
Now you may think well, all Iwant to do is write fantasy, or
(10:54):
all I want to do is write crime,or all I want to do is write
historical fiction.
I absolutely 100% would backyou on that, because you should
do what you want to do as awriter.
It's what makes you happy andit is what you enjoy.
However, I really do believethat writing in other genres can
(11:17):
help us as well, as well asreading in other genres, because
it exposes us to differentstyles of writing and different
styles of writing can help yoube a better writer.
So, reading in other genres andactually writing in other
genres helps us to hone ourcraft, and I think that's a good
(11:39):
thing as well.
And again, as I say, you cantry.
Why not try poetry?
Now, I would not considermyself a poet, but I did do some
rhyming picture books and Ifind my surprise that I enjoyed
doing them.
So why not try doing somethinglike that?
(12:00):
Now, nobody says any of thishas to be published.
I'm not saying you have to godown the publishing route with
it, but trying it is different.
But one of the other things youcan do to step out of your
comfort zone is you can actually, even if you don't want to move
away from your establishedgenre, you can try writing in
the sub-genres of that.
(12:21):
So, for example, if you're acrime thriller writer, try
writing cozy mysteries orwriting what else can you do?
Think of my brain spry becauseof this chest infection, I have
to say.
So you can try writing cozymysteries.
Or you could try writing apsychological thriller.
Or you could write a crimeshort story or historical crime
(12:43):
fiction.
There's lots of different waysyou can stretch yourself without
moving outside your genre.
If that's not what you want todo.
Or you could try doing why notdo a narrative poem that's based
on crime, or performance poetrybased on crime?
I would love to try that.
I'm not a poet, but I really,really want to try performance
(13:04):
poetry, so I'm going to give ita go.
Entering competitions is anotherway you can step out of your
comfort zone.
Now, I don't tend to entercompetitions, but I decided last
year to enter some in much tomy amazement, I actually got a
first in one of the competitionsand I was given highly
(13:28):
commended not highly commended,sorry second and third places
for others.
So I actually, you know, Istepped outside my comfort zone
because I don't really like toenter competitions, but I did it
and I was pleasantly surprised.
Now there were other thingsthat I got nowhere on, but
because I'd stepped out of mycomfort zone and done that, I
(13:48):
got really good feedback,feedback that will help me
improve, help me improve as awriter, help me to improve my
craft, and that's what it's allabout.
Now you might be listening tothis and saying but I'm a
publisher, not a writer.
There must be ways that you canthink about stepping outside of
your comfort zone.
Now that might be a bit moredifficult because obviously it's
(14:11):
your business, but there may bethings that you can do that
will help you, help yourbusiness grow.
And you never know, exploreother possibilities, because
when you explore possibilities,magic happens.
When you step out of yourcomfort zone, magic happens.
Comfort zones are actually theplace where people learn.
(14:34):
They're the not comfort zonesorry.
Outside the comfort zone areplaces where people learn.
They're places where people canpush the boundaries, push the
envelope, so to speak.
They can, they can see how farthey can go and what they can
actually do.
Let's face it we all stepped outof our comfort zone the very
(14:54):
first time that we sat down andwrote the very first word of our
very first manuscript or shortstory novel, non-fiction book.
We all did that and yet we wesomehow fear it.
Once we have severalpublications out, we fear it.
We think, well, we can't dothat, because what will happen?
(15:17):
Push past that fear.
If you push past the fear, thenyou're going to get to the
place where you can explore andthe universe may be open to you.
I know people that write innumerous genres.
They do it with different pennames, but they're excellent at
it and they would never haveknown if they hadn't pushed past
(15:37):
that fear, the niggling doubtthat says I can't do this, I
don't want to move out of mycomfort zone because I'm safe
here.
Safety, safety is great, butsometimes you need to push
safety to one side.
And when I say push safety toone side, I'm talking in a
psychological sense here,heaven's guys, I'm not telling
(15:57):
you to push safety one side andthrow yourself off a cliff, but
sometimes you need to push pastthe fear, push safety to one
side and just try it, becauseyou never know what will happen.
So I wanted to start this yearoff by encouraging you to step
outside of your comfort zone, byencouraging you to push past
(16:17):
your fear and by encouraging youto open yourself up to new
possibilities, and I will behelping you to do that through
this podcast throughout the yearuntil I come back and do
another podcast, which will benext week and I hope I'm less
croaky.
I'm glad I got through thiswithout coughing, which would
have seemed a bit difficultearlier on, but I did, and thank
(16:43):
you for joining me again thisweek and I look very much
forward to seeing you again nextweek.
Take care and until then, keepreading and keep writing.
That brings us to the end ofanother show.
It was really good to have youon the show with me today.
I'm Wendy H Jones and you canfind me at wendahjjonescom.
(17:04):
You can also find me on Patreon, where you can support me for
as little as $3 a month, whichis less than the price of a tea
or coffee.
You go to patreoncom forwardslash wendahjjones.
I'm also Wendy H Jones onFacebook, twitter, instagram and
(17:25):
Pinterest.
Thank you for joining me todayand I hope you found it both
useful and interesting.
Join me next week when I willhave another cracking guest for
you.
Until then, have a good weekand keep writing, keep reading
and keep learning.
Hi and welcome to the Writing and Marketing Show
brought to you by author Wendy HJones.
This show does exactly what itsays on the tin.
It's jam-packed with interviews, advice, hints, tips and news
to help you with the business ofwriting.
It's all wrapped up in onelively podcast.
So it's time to get on with theshow.
(00:23):
And welcome to episode 193 ofthe Writing and Marketing Show
with author entrepreneur Wendy HJones.
Today, I'm going to be talkingabout stepping out of your
comfort zone, because that issomething that I am thinking
about at the moment and I thinkit's something that we can all
learn from as authors.
But before that, I need tostart the show with an apology.
(00:44):
I'm apologising because Ihaven't been around for a while
since the end of October in factand there is a reason for that.
Unfortunately, as I wasfinishing up my book tour of the
States, I got word that myhouse in the UK had been flooded
.
It was just a few days before Iwas due to go back, so I went
back at the normal time and Ihave had to deal with all the
(01:06):
issues to do with flooding.
So, before you think thingswere too bad, my office was
completely flooded, as was mygarage and my utility room.
So everything has gone fromthem, including a lot of my
writing books and a lot of otherthings, a lot of books.
My computer was safe, thankgoodness, but I have had to move
(01:30):
out my house while they sortthings out and it has meant a
lot of time dealing withinsurance companies.
My car was also flooded andwritten off and I have had to
spend hours and hours and hourson the phone dealing with
insurance companies.
I'm not complaining too muchbecause I'm better off than a
(01:54):
lot of people in the world.
I'm safe, I'm warned.
My insurance company moved meinto a towel for a a few weeks
and then I have moved in with arelative and I'm very fortunate
that he has given me his office.
So I have an office and I canstart doing podcasts and getting
(02:15):
on with writing and work again,but I'm still out of my house
and it has taken up a lot ofemotional energy.
You cannot believe how muchemotional and physical energy is
taken up dealing with insurancecompanies.
My house insurance has beenbrilliant.
The car insurance, well, that'sanother matter altogether, but
(02:35):
we won't go down that routebecause I'm not here to slag any
organisations off, but I havefound that a difficult process.
I now have a new car, my housewill get fixed, I will move back
into it and everything will begood.
So I'm very fortunate and noone was hurt in my street.
(02:56):
It was just that we've all hadto have repairs done and, as I
say, I'm safe, I'm warm, I'vegot a roof over my head, I've
got food to eat, so I'm notcomplaining.
It's not a complaint, it's justan explanation as to why I've
been missing.
As you can tell, I'm notfeeling so well today either.
(03:18):
I sound a bit croaky.
That's because I have a chestinfection and an extremely sore
throat.
But I didn't want to leave itany longer because I wanted to
make sure that I brought thepodcast back and I apologise for
the delay To all those who aresupporting me on Patreon.
I apologise that I haven't beenaround.
(03:39):
You're not getting your money'sworth and I'm really sorry
about that, but it will be back,it will be regular and we'll be
here every week and you willget your money's worth again.
So if you would like to supportme on Patreon, trust me, I
would be extremely grateful atthe moment because, as you can
imagine, with a flood, there's alot of money having to be paid
(04:00):
out for various things, but youknow so.
But I know times are hard foreveryone.
But if you would like tosupport me on Patreon, you can
do so by going to patreoncomforward slash wendahachjounds,
and you can support me for aslittle as three dollars a month
and I would be very grateful.
It would mean that you're gladI'm back and doing the show and
(04:21):
it would mean that you wouldlike me to continue, because I
really would like to continue.
In the normal scheme of things,it would have been four years
since I started the show and infact, it is four years since I
started the show, but it's notfour years worth of episodes
because of the few that I missedbecause of the flooding.
(04:41):
So what of today?
Well, today I've been thinking,because it's a new year.
Very often we think about goals.
We think about, you know,actions we can take to get to
the goals, and I've beenthinking about that, like
everyone else.
But I've also been thinkingabout stepping out of your
comfort zone.
(05:02):
There's a couple of things thatI'm going to be doing this year
which are different to mynormal you know, normal work.
I am going to be hopefullymanaging an anthology, and I
know I've done this before, Ihave done several before, but
(05:22):
this is slightly different.
I can't say too much at themoment until it's all announced,
but I'm going to be the personwho manages and publishes the
anthology and I'm very excitedabout that.
It's going to be a crimeanthology and it will be out in
about a year's time, hopefully.
So I'm definitely stepping outof my comfort zone with that one
(05:44):
because I'm going to be headingit up and that is exciting.
The other thing that I'mstepping out of my comfort zone
with I know I love TikTok andI've told you before that I love
TikTok, but I am taking over asthe TikTok lead for the Sisters
in Crime organisation and I amloving that.
(06:07):
Now it launches officially onthe 4th of January 2024, if
you're listening to this in thefuture.
So when you listen to this, ifyou're listening to it, when the
date it comes out on the 3rd ofJanuary 2024, then the Sisters
in Crime TikTok channel will beofficially launched on the 4th.
We've already done a bit of asoft launch so we can get some
(06:27):
videos up, but we're going to bedoing a proper launch on the
4th and I'm very excited abouttaking on the lead and managing
that on behalf of Sisters inCrime.
If you go over to TikTok, youcan find us on Sync National
that's S-I-N-C National, and youcan follow us on TikTok and I
(06:52):
would be very grateful becausewe'd like to get to a thousand
followers so we can start to doTikTok lives and give everyone
over on TikTok value for themoney that they don't pay on
TikTok.
We'd like to give them valuefrom the channel and, as I say,
I'm very excited about doingthis.
And so that's the second thingthat I'm stepping out of my
(07:14):
comfort zone.
With those of you who have beenfollowing my journey of my
historical fiction, then I'vebeen writing up a storm with
that and I need to get that intomy editor and that's definitely
stepping out of my editor to myeditor and my agent.
That's definitely stepping outof my comfort zone because the
(07:35):
agent will be giving me feedbackon what I can do to improve it.
I will be working on that and Iwill be hopefully she'll be
pitching it to publishers for me.
So that's definitely out of mycomfort zone at the moment, but
I'm enjoying it, I'm loving it.
(07:56):
So I'm really on a lot offronts.
I'm thinking that we should bestepping out of our comfort zone
, because when you step out ofyour comfort zone it challenges
you, it makes you think indifferent ways, it makes you
look at your writing indifferent ways, it makes you
look at your author business indifferent ways, and that is
(08:17):
always a good thing, because weget into a rut.
I'm a crime writer on the whole,although I do write non-fiction
as well, but on the whole I'm acrime writer, so I tend to just
stick to mystery crime, cosymystery, things like that.
I'm also a novel writer.
I like full length books.
I like to have a lot of wordsto say things in.
(08:39):
Listen, you're probably saying,yes, we know, wendy, you do
like a lot of words to saythings in.
But I'm very excited aboutdoing anthologies as well,
because it's not just stickingoutside your genre.
So I'm moving away from justcrime writing to this historical
fiction.
But I'm also looking to do moreflash fiction and short stories
(09:03):
this year as well.
So I will be looking foranthologies.
I will definitely be pitchingto anthologies in the hope that
I will get some accepted forpublication.
So that's another thing.
I'm stepping out of my comfortzone.
With the other thing I'm goingto be stepping out of my comfort
zone with is I am going to bewriting retreats now.
(09:27):
I have run conferences in thepast.
I've been involved in retreats,but this is the first time I'll
be running one.
I'm running one in Scotland inFebruary with my new business,
oscot publishing in retreats,and that is something you could
think about stepping out of yourcomfort zone with.
Have you thought about helpingothers with their writing
journey?
And you can do that in a lot ofdifferent ways.
(09:48):
I do it by being a writingcouch.
I do it by doing this podcast,that's to help people with the
writing journeys.
I do it through my retreats.
I do it through speaking atconferences.
I do it through editing.
I love helping other people.
I also do it through myFacebook group, which is called
(10:08):
Women Writers, editors, agentsand Publishers.
Now, before everybody thinks,oh, why have you stuck to women?
I inherited the group about twoyears ago 18 months ago and it
had that title.
So I've basically taken it overwith that title and I've grown
it in the last 18 months from6,000 members to almost 100,000
(10:33):
members and I never thought Iwould be doing a group like that
.
So have you thought aboutrunning a Facebook group to help
other writers, or you know,think differently.
Think how you can help others.
Think how you can change whatyou're doing.
Now you may think well, all Iwant to do is write fantasy, or
(10:54):
all I want to do is write crime,or all I want to do is write
historical fiction.
I absolutely 100% would backyou on that, because you should
do what you want to do as awriter.
It's what makes you happy andit is what you enjoy.
However, I really do believethat writing in other genres can
(11:17):
help us as well, as well asreading in other genres, because
it exposes us to differentstyles of writing and different
styles of writing can help yoube a better writer.
So, reading in other genres andactually writing in other
genres helps us to hone ourcraft, and I think that's a good
(11:39):
thing as well.
And again, as I say, you cantry.
Why not try poetry?
Now, I would not considermyself a poet, but I did do some
rhyming picture books and Ifind my surprise that I enjoyed
doing them.
So why not try doing somethinglike that?
(12:00):
Now, nobody says any of thishas to be published.
I'm not saying you have to godown the publishing route with
it, but trying it is different.
But one of the other things youcan do to step out of your
comfort zone is you can actually, even if you don't want to move
away from your establishedgenre, you can try writing in
the sub-genres of that.
(12:21):
So, for example, if you're acrime thriller writer, try
writing cozy mysteries orwriting what else can you do?
Think of my brain spry becauseof this chest infection, I have
to say.
So you can try writing cozymysteries.
Or you could try writing apsychological thriller.
Or you could write a crimeshort story or historical crime
(12:43):
fiction.
There's lots of different waysyou can stretch yourself without
moving outside your genre.
If that's not what you want todo.
Or you could try doing why notdo a narrative poem that's based
on crime, or performance poetrybased on crime?
I would love to try that.
I'm not a poet, but I really,really want to try performance
(13:04):
poetry, so I'm going to give ita go.
Entering competitions is anotherway you can step out of your
comfort zone.
Now, I don't tend to entercompetitions, but I decided last
year to enter some in much tomy amazement, I actually got a
first in one of the competitionsand I was given highly
(13:28):
commended not highly commended,sorry second and third places
for others.
So I actually, you know, Istepped outside my comfort zone
because I don't really like toenter competitions, but I did it
and I was pleasantly surprised.
Now there were other thingsthat I got nowhere on, but
because I'd stepped out of mycomfort zone and done that, I
(13:48):
got really good feedback,feedback that will help me
improve, help me improve as awriter, help me to improve my
craft, and that's what it's allabout.
Now you might be listening tothis and saying but I'm a
publisher, not a writer.
There must be ways that you canthink about stepping outside of
your comfort zone.
Now that might be a bit moredifficult because obviously it's
(14:11):
your business, but there may bethings that you can do that
will help you, help yourbusiness grow.
And you never know, exploreother possibilities, because
when you explore possibilities,magic happens.
When you step out of yourcomfort zone, magic happens.
Comfort zones are actually theplace where people learn.
(14:34):
They're the not comfort zonesorry.
Outside the comfort zone areplaces where people learn.
They're places where people canpush the boundaries, push the
envelope, so to speak.
They can, they can see how farthey can go and what they can
actually do.
Let's face it we all stepped outof our comfort zone the very
(14:54):
first time that we sat down andwrote the very first word of our
very first manuscript or shortstory novel, non-fiction book.
We all did that and yet we wesomehow fear it.
Once we have severalpublications out, we fear it.
We think, well, we can't dothat, because what will happen?
(15:17):
Push past that fear.
If you push past the fear, thenyou're going to get to the
place where you can explore andthe universe may be open to you.
I know people that write innumerous genres.
They do it with different pennames, but they're excellent at
it and they would never haveknown if they hadn't pushed past
(15:37):
that fear, the niggling doubtthat says I can't do this, I
don't want to move out of mycomfort zone because I'm safe
here.
Safety, safety is great, butsometimes you need to push
safety to one side.
And when I say push safety toone side, I'm talking in a
psychological sense here,heaven's guys, I'm not telling
(15:57):
you to push safety one side andthrow yourself off a cliff, but
sometimes you need to push pastthe fear, push safety to one
side and just try it, becauseyou never know what will happen.
So I wanted to start this yearoff by encouraging you to step
outside of your comfort zone, byencouraging you to push past
(16:17):
your fear and by encouraging youto open yourself up to new
possibilities, and I will behelping you to do that through
this podcast throughout the yearuntil I come back and do
another podcast, which will benext week and I hope I'm less
croaky.
I'm glad I got through thiswithout coughing, which would
have seemed a bit difficultearlier on, but I did, and thank
(16:43):
you for joining me again thisweek and I look very much
forward to seeing you again nextweek.
Take care and until then, keepreading and keep writing.
That brings us to the end ofanother show.
It was really good to have youon the show with me today.
I'm Wendy H Jones and you canfind me at wendahjjonescom.
(17:04):
You can also find me on Patreon, where you can support me for
as little as $3 a month, whichis less than the price of a tea
or coffee.
You go to patreoncom forwardslash wendahjjones.
I'm also Wendy H Jones onFacebook, twitter, instagram and
(17:25):
Pinterest.
Thank you for joining me todayand I hope you found it both
useful and interesting.
Join me next week when I willhave another cracking guest for
you.
Until then, have a good weekand keep writing, keep reading
and keep learning.
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