Posted on by Denise Hartzler

Rediscover, Reignite, Launch

Lately, I have been grief-stricken and am getting tired of feeling stuck in a rut. I long for a change and plan to reignite the fire within me. As I approach my 50th birthday, I keep reminding myself that it’s never too late to pursue my passions and embark on a new venture that lights up my soul. In this blog post, let’s explore how you can reignite your passion for whatever you choose and take the first steps toward starting a new chapter.

Step 1: Rediscover Your Passion

The first step in reigniting your passion is reconnecting with yourself and identifying what makes your heart sing. Take some time to reflect on your interests, hobbies, and dreams. What activities bring you joy and fulfillment? What topics or causes ignite a spark within you? If you don’t know, take one week and see what makes you jealous—looking at other’s success and feeling that pang of jealousy is a sign that you also want/care about it. You can lay the foundation for a new venture that aligns with your authentic self by rediscovering your passion.

Step 2: Set Clear Goals

Once you have identified your passion, it’s time to set clear and achievable goals for your new venture. Define what success looks like for you and outline the steps you must take to get there. It’s not going to happen overnight. Small and steady progress will get you there. Setting small, attainable goals will help you stay focused and motivated when it gets rough and keep you on track as you embark on this exciting journey.

Step 3: Embrace Fear and Take Action

Fear of the unknown or fear of failure can often hold us back from pursuing our passions. Remember, in a blog post last year, we defined fear as ‘False Evidence Appearing Real.’ So don’t let fear stop you! It’s important to acknowledge these fears but not let them dictate your actions. Embrace fear as a natural part of the process and take small, actionable steps towards your goals. Remember, growth and success often lie just beyond our comfort zones.

Step 4: Who’s at your table? Seek Support and Guidance

Embarking on a new venture can be daunting, but you don’t have to go it alone. Look at who is sitting at your table – some uninvited, negative guests must be escorted out the door. Your table should have people who support and guide you – mentors, coaches, or like-minded individuals who can offer valuable insights and encouragement along the way. The bottom line is to surround yourself with a supportive community that believes in your dreams and wants to see you succeed.

Step 5: Stay Persistent and Adapt

Building a new venture takes time, effort, and perseverance. Stay persistent in pursuing your goals, even when faced with challenges or setbacks. Be willing to adapt and pivot as needed, learning from your experiences and continuously improving your approach. Remember, every obstacle is an opportunity for growth and innovation.

Step 6: Take the Leap

Now is the time to take the leap and start turning your passion into a reality. Trust in yourself, believe in your vision, and take bold steps towards creating the life and business you desire. Embrace the journey ahead with an open heart and a positive mindset, knowing you can shape your destiny.

Ultimately, reigniting your passion and starting a new venture is a transformative journey that can lead to personal fulfillment, professional success, and a purposeful life. You can turn your dreams into reality by reconnecting with your passion, setting clear goals, embracing fear, seeking support, staying persistent, and taking the leap. Remember, the only limits that exist are the ones you place on yourself. So, reignite your passion and start your new venture today!

This episode is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Posted on by Denise Hartzler

Do you take your own advice?

Last month, I dished out a lot “advice” for how to get yourself and your writing moving forward rather than staying static. In my classroom, I also give students “suggestions” (aka advice) for how to improve their reading endurance, writing skills, even their time management executive functioning skills. There are also many conversations we have that bring about disagreements. In my classroom, disagreements come with rules because for them, it needs to be a place of trust. After all, they are still learning, despite them thinking they don’t English classes in high school. It’s a promise I make to them on day 1 of school and it takes time to build the trust but when it’s there, students trust me to keep debates and disagreements free from judgement, free from name calling, free from bullying, free from all the nastiness. At the end of those discussions I remind them that this rarely happens online. It’s not meant to be a scare tactic, it’s meant to protect them from the lawlessness of the online world.

It’s advice I should haven taken for myself.

Recently I questioned a post on Instagram by a well-known Christian entrepreneur, life coach, writer, etc. which led to an onslaught of his devote followers to start slinging their arrows. I thought I would take my own advice, you know the advice I give my students,”ignore and scroll on.” However, with this post, I choose not to ignore and scroll on, I engaged – and by engaging, I questioned the other side of the story. I refused to take his post at face-value.

From that question alone, I began to carry my cross.

Names like “devil’s advocate” and “satan’s worker” became my labels. It didn’t feel good. His crowd of followers brought into question my faith. I know where I stand in my walk with Christ and I never surround myself with people whereby I need to justify that relationship, especially online. Yet, here I stood fighting off their arrows. Then I took one more arrow than I could handle. The simple pierce of the tip had me teetering on the edge of a dark depression that I know all too well. I felt like one more word would send me into that darkness and I didn’t want to go there, so without any more words or justifications, I walked away. That didn’t make them stop.

Four days later, their new words included, “coward” “too scared to fight” “If you are truly a Christian, you wouldn’t have questioned and then walked away.” The grace of one follower sent me a DM explaining the other side of the story and apologized for giving into the mob mentality. I appreciated her reaching out and responded cautiously.

I shared this experience with my students so they could see that even as an adult, I made a bad decision, didn’t follow my own advice, and suffered the consequences.

I continue to teach my students to question everything. Never take something you read, especially online, at face-value. Research. Read more. Look at both sides. Most importantly, I never allow my students to apologize for asking questions. In a trusted space, questions are welcomed, questions are learning opportunities.

Should I have done my own research before engaging online? Yes.

Should I have walked away without engaging? Possibly.

Should I have checked my armor for cracks before treading into a territory, that I know from past experience, could lead to a fight? Yes.

Did I expect this treatment from fellow Christians? Never.

So will I take my own advice in the future and remember that engaging online is very much like swimming farther into the ocean than your comfortable with, because you could be in trouble very quickly? Possibly…if I have a life vest.

Posted on by Denise Hartzler

Feeling like a static character?

The number one way readers judge characters is by how much they change. Do they change, or are they static? Most characters must change, especially the main character, but what about others characters in a story? Do they all change? No matter how slight of a shift, all characters should change. If they don’t, they risk not being in the story.

Static characters got me thinking about writing and writing habits. Has your writing changed over these last few years? Have your habits remained static? Is the thought of writing word after word too heavy? If so, how do we push or pull ourselves out of this rut? 

We must start by being honest. Ask yourself these questions and take time to ponder them: 

  1. Have you weighed yourself down with studying the craft of writing to the point of never putting it into practice? Learning the art of writing is essential. It must never stop, but it must not prevent you from starting or restarting your writing. I tell my students that we can study all week long, but we have to put what we are learning into practice at some point. It’s the only way to evolve. 
  2. Who is sitting at your table? In other words, who surrounds you? Are you feeding those around you more than you are feeding yourself? Are others starving you? Are the people you spend time with and energy on a time suck? It’s a tricky question to answer, and it can be painful. Too often, we find it easy to put others and their needs before our own. If you find yourself in one of these roles, it becomes even more tricky: a parent, a spouse, a caretaker, a teacher, a mentor, or a coach. These roles make it hard for us to find and take care of ourselves or our writing careers. We feel guilting saying ‘no’ to others to the point of sacrificing our dreams and energy. Writing requires creating boundaries. If you continue offering your time [and energy] helping others achieve their dreams, that book or blog may never come to reality.  Note: I am not saying don’t take care of your children or elderly parents or a loved one that needs your help, but you should find carve out some time for yourself and writing – trust me, it’ll be hard at first, but rewarding in the end. 
  3. Are you consistent and disciplined? Discipline and consistency – two keys to a fulfilled writing life. You must be intentional with your writing and your time. Show up to the page no matter what! If you have the best ideas and your energy is high early in the morning before the world around awakes, set the alarm, get up, splash some water on your face, drink some water or coffee or tea and sit down to write. Even if it’s too early for the screen, show up for the page. I love writing with a good ol’ BiC ballpoint pen or pencil on paper. It’s less strain on my eyes. Once you begin to show up, be disciplined and consistent, I guarantee you’ll feel a shift. Tip: plan out the night before what you want to write. It’s takes away the distraction or the temptation to procrastinate. 
  4. What frightens you? For years I was afraid. I was fearful of what others thought about my writing. In the last few years, I’ve matured enough to know that I wasted too much time worrying about letting others down that I can confidently say I’ve let my characters down. I’ve let my ideas down. I let myself down. It has nothing to do with other people; it has everything to do with yourself. I know this sounds selfish, but after all, you are writing a story because something happened to you or you have something to say. Get it on paper. Find some trustworthy sets of eyes to read what you write. Now you may be thinking I’m too afraid to share what I write because ‘what if someone steals my ideas or my words?’ Most writers I know, I trust. I have a small circle of writer friends that I send work to because we’ve built trust. How? We’ve met at several writing retreats, we write in different genres (same age group), and we encourage each other through the hard times. I’ve removed the fear of someone stealing my story or ideas. Yes, this is a valid concern! However, it shouldn’t stop you from sharing your work when you need professional and honest feedback (this comes back to point #2, you may need to find a new table). So again, assess what is scaring you from getting your work out in the real world. I won’t go into the traditional v self-publishing debate but work on conquering your fears so your stories can find a home in someone else’s hands.
  5. Do you start and stop? I am a chronic starter. I am an ideas person. I tried to blame it on my Gemini nature, but one day I laid out all the manuscripts I have started on my bed. These stacks of unfinished works took up a queen-size bed. The number of unfinished manuscripts was staggering! Talk about a slap-in-the-face dose of reality. I sat in that mess. I owned that mess. Once the self-berating emotions stopped, I made a pivot. I took sticky notes and began to write the good qualities of each manuscript, along with being honest about why I stopped. Some didn’t work. Others, I lost interest in the storyline. Some got stuck with too many plot holes, and I couldn’t find a way to fix them. In the end, there were less than four that I put aside. These are the ones I genuinely want to see published. Sometimes, we have to face the mess and begin to clean it up. If you are a chronic starter, it’s time to get honest with yourself. Ask yourself, why do I start and not finish? Am I a perfectionist, which is nothing more than fear in disguise? Do I have a genuine interest in writing? Do I have depression or ADD, something that is physically stopping me from producing a project? These are all valid reasons why people quit. You first need to face it head-on and ask for guidance or help. 

Every little change will evolve you from being a static writer to a productive writer. Most importantly, I want you to be gentle with yourself. We all make mistakes. We all trip and stumble and fall. Don’t quit on your writing! Don’t quit on your writing dreams!

Which one will you focus on to help you get out of a writing rut? If you have other helpful hints to move out of a slump, please share! After all, writing is a journey meant to be shared.

Be sure to check out my Writers on Task journal. This simple, easy-to-follow journal can keep you moving towards your writing goals.