How to cope with the status quo

The most difficult part of being a self-publishing 1st time author is writing something that you hope others want to read.  I'm willing to venture that this is the case for most of us who aren't under the wing of someone else.

Blind faith plays a huge role in the process, for there are 0% percent assurances that what we are writing will find an audience outside of friends and family.    

We risk time, money, not to mention all the other loses that are incurred because of sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day for whatever the length of time is required to get our work out there.  And yet we proceed forward anyway.  Why?

Are we all out of our minds for doing something that might bankrupt us emotionally, physically and financially?  Some would say yes.

In some regards writing that first work intended for the world is much like being married with children.

Example: A young single person who finds out a friend is getting married with the intention of having a child might think them crazy.  The single person can't believe their friend would want to give up the so-called good life of being single and young to be burdened with a spouse and child.

With a first time author it is much the same.  People second guess your decision: Why give up so much to work so hard on something that might not bring any return?

They are "Not seeing the Forest for the Trees."

In both cases the big picture is more important than the smaller self-focused details that others cling to.  That is part of the reason that artistic works, like marriages and other ventures that require faith are created in the first place.  You have to be focused on something without regard for what others might think.

This runs counter to how most of the civilized world runs.  Most of the time we all go with what works, what is proven, what is comfortable, what is expected.  Sometimes there is that spark that forces us to alter our present situation and do what feels right.  Be it love, passion or inspiration of any sort.  A real spark is truly rare find, so much so that if you don't pursue it you will be worse off then if you had.

Sure, one might maintain the status quo, but they'll have lost something that could fulfill them more than anything they already have.

It requires sacrifice of the self.

Some just can't do that, especially in today's society.  That is due in large part because of the rapid evolution of technology.  There is not anything wrong with that.  It's how things are.  To some extent to go against the status quo goes against what it is to be a living creature, but it is at the very heart of what makes us human.

Not pursing what inspires you to its end because it would be difficult or different from what you are used to is a defeatists mentality.  Self-publishing 1st time authors are anything but defeatists.  We are creative warriors fighting against the status quo.  Not because we want to but because we have to.

Thanks for reading.

-aaron