Under $100.
⁄/ Chapter 1: Find Your Purpose
Purpose:
The reason you are creating or completing something to exist.
By now, if you have picked up this book, you have an interest in writing. You either have something written already, or you’re still researching your genre. There are so many things you can write about, and there are so many books out in the world today. Self-publishing has become a very big and lucrative business.
When I first started writing it was my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Delaney, who made writing an exciting part of school for me. I remember every day I looked forward to her English class. She made learning about haikus, similes, assonance, metaphors, and onomatopoeias a great experience. I had never been that ecstatic to learn and embrace them like I was when we started to learn about poetry.
I started small with poems, and by high school, it took on a life of its own. I had a binder with plastic sleeves full of poems I had written. Some were poems about being happy, and others were about love. I had kind of experienced my first heartbreak in middle school. I had over one hundred poems in this binder, and I wouldn’t let anyone read it. I was protective about my work. Maybe I was just shy to have someone criticize something I wrote.
By college, I would get rave reviews on my essay papers and how I was able to tell stories. I could take a simple topic and create a vivid picture for my reader. I really loved this thing called writing.
It wasn’t until my late twenties that I realized I was struggling with my purpose. I was trying all sorts of different entrepreneurial fields. I’m creative, but things weren’t sticking. I started with t-shirts, hair, jewelry, cell phone cases, clutch purses, and lastly, skirts. There was no denying that I was very talented, but the substance was missing. These things didn’t fulfill me. They would last for about six months at the most.
I started talking to my best friend, and I told her we should write a book, either together or just write. We had been friends since seventh grade, and we had a lifetime of stories to tell. We could easily do this for the rest of our lives. Things didn’t go as a planned with our joint book. But I never stopped writing. I continued to write. It was on computer paper, and it was just random thoughts and characters. I had no prior knowledge of being an author, but that didn’t stop me.
Fast forward to October 2014. I had to pick up my life and move away to Kansas. My whole life got uprooted, and me and my family took the long trip from Georgia to the plains. I had to leave my full-time and part-time job where I was comfortable. That’s just a sacrifice that comes with a military family, though. In my quest to Kansas, I thought about things, like where I would work and what I would do. Most of all, I continued to write. I thought about my legacy. Where do I want to leave a mark? What is my purpose?
All along it was right in front of me. I researched information after I read about a YouTuber who had self-published her own book. I was all over the Internet now, searching for more and more information on how I could self-publish the book I’d been working on.
Once I felt like I knew enough to get me by, I hit the publish button. I had published my first book. Journeys of the Heart. I barely told anyone. I was still shocked myself. When I searched for it and I found it on Amazon was when I noticed that I had indeed found my purpose.
That book has gone on to sell over five hundred copies with a mediocre cover, horrible editing, and unflattering formatting. I relaunched the book after a year and went on to sell over one thousand copies total. My relaunch included editing, a professional cover, and a well-formatted book.
Because people believed in me, I persevered. My first failed attempt at self-publishing was still successful. I feel my story was good, so my readers were intrigued.
- Cinquanta Cox-Smith
Finding your purpose shouldn’t be a marathon; you shouldn’t have to participate in a scavenger hunt to find it. When things don’t work for you, you should look at yourself. Are you blaming others for your shortcomings? Once you reevaluate your goals you need to find your way.
Getting out of your own way
• Stop being uncomfortable with your life choices
• It’s okay to fail because at least you tried
• Procrastination only leads you farther away from your dream
• No one is going give you exactly what you want
Your Life Purpose
• Learn new skills that can help you be better
• Time Management for Life Purpose
• Research things you are good at
• Vision Board and Goal Setting
In order to find your purpose, you should be actively doing things. If you are at a standstill, this is where you need to pay close attention and follow the list. I want to go over a few examples of things that you can do to actively prepare yourself as an author.
Research. I know I say this a lot, but it is truly my number one piece of advice. I have to give you this type of information because it’s not always in plain sight. You need to research numerous things about the genre you choose to write in.
Dialogue information, and how to create character outlines, are also important. A Google search is not always enough. Try going to a library to get an actual book that has years of history in it. The library is a very reliable source. You need to know things about creating location names and copyright laws.
Next, you should be doing whatever is set in your heart to do. If you are passionate about teaching content creators how to take their courses from online to an e-book, for example, you should find someone who you can possibly help to test out your skill.
Writing makes me happy, and it makes me excited. I love when I get inbox messages from people who tell me I’ve made a difference in their lives with my words. My heart melts. I try my best to write things that have meaning. I love fiction, but I feel that every story should have a lesson. Sometimes you have to go through the mud to get to the good part.
Knowing that you, in some way, shape, or form, have put your heart into your craft—and it’s reflecting on your reviews that should make your heart smile.
Never think that your purpose is only ONE thing. You may think you are called to just do one thing in life, but really, you can have many gifts. If your gift can be spread out into three or more sources of income, your focus will then shift to all three of your purposes.
Don’t believe that notion that you can only be one thing in life. Nope, you can certainly be more than one. Even if you don’t know what those others things are yet, it’s okay to try out options in new territories. Failure isn’t defeat.
Being able to try new things can open your eyes to a bigger purpose than the one you thought you had.
Here is a task that I want you to complete to help you find your purpose. Freewriting
