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![The Successful Author Mindset: A Handbook for Surviving the Writer's Journey (Books for Writers 4) by [Joanna Penn]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51OUBajIT7L._SY346_.jpg)
The Successful Author Mindset: A Handbook for Surviving the Writer's Journey (Books for Writers 4) Kindle Edition
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Being a writer is not just about typing. It’s also about surviving the roller-coaster of the creative journey.
Self-doubt, fear of failure, the need for validation, perfectionism, writer’s block, comparisonitis, overwhelm, and much more. When you’re going through these things, it can feel like you’re alone. But actually, they are part of the creative process, and every author goes through them too.
This book collects the mindset issues that writers experience, that I have been through myself over the last decade, and that perhaps you will experience at different times on the creative journey.
Each small chapter tackles a possible issue and then offers an antidote, so that you can dip in and out over time. It includes excerpts from my own personal journals as well as quotes from well-known writers. I hope it helps you on the road to becoming a successful author. The book includes:
Part 1: Mindset Aspects of Creativity and Writing
* Self-doubt and imposter syndrome
* Need for validation
* Fear of failure
* Fear of rejection and criticism
* Your inner critic
* Fear of judgment
* Perfectionism
* Writer’s block and procrastination
* “I’m not creative. I don’t have any ideas”
* “My writing isn’t original”
* “Why write? There are too many books in the world already”
* “I don’t have the time or self-discipline to write”
* “I’m not finding writing much fun. It’s hard work.”
* “I keep starting things and not finishing them”
* Dealing with friends, family and writer’s groups
* “How do I find my voice?”
* Comparisonitis or “Everyone is better than me”
Part 2: Mindset Aspects after Publishing
* Anti-climax and creative dissatisfaction
* What is your definition of success?
* What happens when you tell people that you’re an author?
* “I’m overwhelmed”
* Dealing with fans, authenticity and drawing the line
* Haters gonna hate
* Ambition, fame and fortune
* Giving up
Part 3: Tips for Success on the Author Journey
* Know thyself
* Understand and hone your creative process
* Develop professional habits
* Manage professional relationships
* Take control of your writing career
* Find your community
* Keep learning
* Schedule rest and take time off
* Think long term. Create a body of work
You're not alone on the author's journey. Download a sample or buy now.
- Publication dateJune 29, 2016
- LanguageEnglish
- File size1155 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B01H0LBC2Q
- Publisher : Curl Up Press (June 29, 2016)
- Publication date : June 29, 2016
- Language : English
- File size : 1155 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 166 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 1533676607
- Best Sellers Rank: #342,459 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #46 in Nonfiction Writing Reference
- #94 in Fiction Writing Reference (Kindle Store)
- #303 in Authorship
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Joanna Penn is a bestselling author, international speaker and award-winning entrepreneur based in Bath, England.
Her site, www.TheCreativePenn.com helps authors with creativity, writing, publishing, book marketing and creative entrepreneurship. It has been voted one of the top 100 sites for authors by Writers Digest. Joanna has a popular podcast, The Creative Penn, and a YouTube Channel.
You can get a free Author 2.0 Blueprint ebook and video series at www.TheCreativePenn.com/blueprint
You can also connect with Joanna on Twitter @thecreativepenn
and on Facebook.com/TheCreativePenn
Joanna is a travel junkie, weaving her adventures into her Award-nominated, bestselling thrillers as J.F.Penn and podcasting at www.BooksAndTravel.page
She's a cat person and enjoys a nice G&T.
Joanna has a Masters in Theology from the University of Oxford, Mansfield College, and a post-graduate diploma in Psychology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She spent 13 years in the corporate world before breaking out to become a full-time author-entrepreneur in 2011.
Her bestselling self-help books for writers and authors include:
Successful Self-Publishing: How to self-publish an ebook and print book
How to Market a Book
How to Make a Living with your Writing - listed as one of INC magazine top business books 2015
The Successful Author Mindset: A Handbook for Surviving the Writer's Journey
Audio for Authors: Audiobooks, Podcasting and Voice Technologies
Productivity for Authors
Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur
Public Speaking for Authors, Creatives and Other Introverts
Co-writing a Book: Collaboration and Co-Creation for Writers - co-written with J. Thorn
The Healthy Writer: Reduce your Pain, Improve your Health, and Build a Writing Career for the Long-term - co-written with Dr Euan Lawson
Career Change: Stop Hating your Job, Discover what you Really Want to Do with your Life, and Start Doing It!
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Joanna hits on all the right topics that kill a writer’s confidence, break his or her self-esteem, and can hold would-be writers back from achieving success as a published author.
Writer’s go through a lot of negative emotions and inner turmoil when it comes to writing. Dealing with self-doubt, fear, insecurity and that all-encompassing fear of rejection, writers live in fear of failing at their work. This isn’t only for new authors but veterans as well.
As Joanna points out: “Embrace self-doubt as part of the creative process. Be encouraged by the fact that virtually all other creatives, including your writing heroes, feel it too with every book they write.”
The basis of this book is that, it doesn’t teach anything about how to write or book publishing. It focuses on the author mindset, with each chapter hitting on a potential issue authors face, and then followed by solutions [anecdotes] for dealing with the problem.
The chapters are short and to the point, offering valuable strategies and suggestions to overcome the particular issue. What I like about this layout is you can open up the pages and read any of the chapters randomly. The book is purely about the emotional rollercoaster of being a writer and how to deal with those issues along the way.
The book is broken down into sections: Part 1 goes through the potential issues you may face during the
creative process of writing. Part 2 tackles what happens after you publish and as you move through the author journey into successive books. Part 3 offers some tips for successfully managing your author mindset in order to foster a long-term creative career.
So what are the best parts of the book? What will you take away by investing several hours in learning about the writer’s mindset?
Here are the core themes that most authors, new and old, can relate to that Joanna Penn writes on:
— The need for validation seeking
— Dealing with self-doubt, lack of confidence and uncertainty.
— Handling the fear of failure and rejection
— Using mindfulness to overcome fear
— Making a mindset shift
— Handling perfectionism
— The fear of judgment
— Facing your inner critic
— Tackling writer’s block and procrastination
— Writing original content from the heart
— Dealing with the critics of friends and family
— Learning to stay away from comparisonitis
— Defining your definition of success
— Working your way through overwhelmness
— Map your creative energy cycles
— Manage professional relationships
— Taking control of your writing career
I love Joanna’s advice on handling fear:
"The experience of fear is often worse than the actual event and if you are never afraid as a writer, then you are never challenging yourself. No one will die because you received a scathing review, or the only person who reads your book is your Mum, or you speak at a festival and people walk out."
She makes you feel as if she knows [and she does] what writer’s go through to get heard, to be creative, to interact with people, fans, the public, and to handle that internal committee that never shuts up.
When it comes to dealing with criticism, Joanna says:
“Build up resilience and a thicker skin over time, because, as a creative, you will face criticism and rejection throughout your whole career. You’re never going to please everyone, so be aware that if you put your work into the world, there will be comments you don't like.”
In the section on handling the inner critic, her advice is:
“Put your butt in the chair and get some words on the page. You don't have to sit down to write 'the best book ever,' as your inner critic will slaughter that idea pretty fast! But you can sit down to write the few lines that are in your head, or just a little chapter on something. Don't make the event into something scary. Don't build your part up. You're just sitting down to write. What could be so threatening about that?”
For creating original content from our own ideas, the author’s advice is: “Embrace what has already been done and read a great deal in the genres you enjoy and want to write in. Elements from those books will resonate in your writing quite naturally, but you can then take them further by bringing in your imagination and your voice.”
When you read this book you will, I am confident to say, be a more confident, happier, and positive writer that is able to face the fear and do it anyway. By building up your “Author Mindset,” this will give you the mental empowerment and courage and seize control of your writing career and put yourself out there no matter the fear or self-doubt you are experiencing.
Joanna’s book is an inspirational powerhouse of wisdom, solid advice and, backed up by years of experience in the field, you will walk away with the confidence that, “Yes, I can write a book!”
Top reviews from other countries



As a published author, I’d encountered many of the writing issues, though I still found the advice interesting. You never know when writers’ block might creep up on you. The guidance on marketing and making a career from writing was more pertinent and useful to me.
Wherever you are on the writing journey, it’s good to know others have experienced the same challenges you face. It’s even better to know, they’ve found the answers that could help you.

This book is a great reminder for new writers and seasoned alike - it's a reminder that we're not alone and we all suffer with the same mental niggles during the process of creating a book.
Fab read, well recommended
