Sometimes, you just feel like throwing in the towel

Thursdays are usually my days for writing what I call my “sermon reflections.” Those blog posts, often filed under “church topics,” are my takes on the sermons that are preached at the little church I attend in my tiny swath of the Midwest. But this past Sunday, while I attended church, I was also feeling a bit under the weather, making it hard for me to concentrate and make connections on the sermon. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great sermon about two different feast parables. I just couldn’t make my brain work well enough to jot down connections and notes to turn into any sort of blog post.

Those kind of things happen.

I’m dealing with frustrations right now. Readership on this blog is down. Views on my social medias are down, even as I try my best to keep churning out things to read and videos to watch. My sales are down. It’s been a slump of a year and it just makes me wish I could just cave and toss all of this away. Those ugly voices in my head, the ones that have always told me “you’ll never make anything good,” are rearing their heads over and over again. It’s enough to make me want to throw in the towel.

But here’s the thing. I am no quitter. Yes, it’s slumpy (yes, slumpy. I just made that up!) right now in my writing adventures. But other facets in my life are booming. I have been spending more time wit the family of choice I have made here in Iowa. I have been doing well at my full time job. I have been getting outside more, which does help my mental health and actually HELPS with the writing side too….. so while my writing adventures are meh, overall things are going well.

Maybe I won’t throw in the towel. Maybe, instead of focusing on the minute things, I need to remember to take a step back and see the whole picture.

My sales are down. But have I been pushing my books lately? (Shameless plug here – all of my books can be found at this link.)

My readership on this blog is down…. but have I been sharing my links like I often do? And while reads and views are down, I haven’t had a single day without a view in almost two years…. so I have that working out in my favor.

Social media… well, that can be hit or miss and from what I have heard, it’s a big miss right now for many of the creatives I follow.

The magic is still there. The stories are still there. The readers may come. They may not. But I’m actually doing fine. No, I am better than fine. Know why? Because I am still a writer, even in these slumpy days. I have written seventeen books AND a serial novel so far. I am still a creator, chugging away. I won’t ever make it big, but I know I am still making a difference. I am still creating a little magic in this tiny swath of the Midwest for as many people as I can reach. And I will keep going. I will keep writing. I will keep being me.

And I’ll keep hold of the towel. I never know when I will need it.

Stay magical, friends.

Write your own story.

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And as always, #writeyourownstory