Year of Yes / Books for Writers

Please Note: This post is pre-scheduled. I’m caring for a loved one receiving treatments, so my replies to comments and return visits to bloggers will be delayed. I will get to it eventually, though. Promise. Thanks for your understanding!

This year I am bringing back my Books for Writers feature. This will be a once-a-month feature.

I did this once before in 2017.

The books I talked about in 2017:

The Grammar Bible

Guerilla Marketing for Writers

Writer’s Market

Bird by Bird

Feng Shui for Writers

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing

Your One Word

The Artist’s Way

Children’s Writer’s Word Book

YEAR OF YES BY SHONDA RHIMES

BLURB & BUY @ BOOKSHOP

While this book isn’t exactly for writers, writers can benefit from it.

You can read Year of Yes for the reading challenge for writers I’m hosting called Read With Fey. You can join it on The StoryGraph here. But you don’t have to be on The StoryGraph to participate! Check out all the details here: Read With Fey: Challenge For Writers

***The excerpt below is from 2019***

February 2019 I read Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes and talked about it in my newsletter.

Here is what I said then in 2019: 

Saying YES: I recently read Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. What's funny is that I started my own Year of Yes before even having a name for it. In November, I was asked to be a speaker at a conference this April. I agreed immediately, even though the thought of doing a presentation at a conference, in front of an unknowable amount of people, fills me with fear and nerves. But I have been actively saying "yes" to opportunities that present themselves.

On New Year's Eve, one such opportunity came knocking on my inbox when Janice Hardy of Fiction University was seeking part-time contributors to her blog. I quickly put my name in the running. In fact, Janice told me I was the first to respond. Now I am one of her co-contributors. I have four spots on your blog throughout the year. The first will be March 5th.

I also said YES to doing presentations for writers meetings at my local library. I figured it would do me some good in the long run. I also wanted to help out a good friend who had recently taken over the meetings. The first presentation I did was last month. I was a bundle of nerves. Even my hands were shaking! But it went well, and I was proud of myself afterward. I will be doing several presentations throughout the year.

My most recent YES was to attend a lunch this month with my publisher who will be in town, along with other local authors. I'm notorious for feeling "sick" in these sorts of situations, so I'll probably order a salad and hope I don't look as out of sorts as I'll no doubt feel.

I'll also be having lunch out with local writers for another meeting...a few days after the lunch with my publisher. I'll probably only know a couple of people there, so you can bet I'll feel the same way as I described above.

The point to all of this is...I am saying YES and doing things even though I'd rather hide at home with my cats, even though I know my heart will be racing and I'll have trouble breathing. I am saying YES for myself, because saying YES is better than saying NO (in these circumstances).

What can/will you say YES to this year?

Please note again that this was from 2019. I’m not a co-contributor on Janice’s blog this year. 2019 was my Year of Yes.

Also, all of that was pre-COVID. I definitely think that needs to be said. LOL

BLURB: In this poignant, hilarious and deeply intimate call to arms, Hollywood's most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder and Catch, reveals how saying YES changed her life - and how it can change yours too. With three hit shows on television and three children at home, Shonda Rhimes had lots of good reasons to say no when invitations arrived. Hollywood party? No. Speaking engagement? No. Media appearances? No. And to an introvert like Shonda, who describes herself as 'hugging the walls' at social events and experiencing panic attacks before press interviews, there was a particular benefit to saying no: nothing new to fear. Then came Thanksgiving 2013, when Shonda's sister Delorse muttered six little words at her: You never say yes to anything. Profound, impassioned and laugh-out-loud funny, in Year of Yes Shonda Rhimes reveals how saying YES changed - and saved - her life. And inspires readers everywhere to change their own lives with one little word: Yes. 

QUESTION: What can/will you say YES to this year?

Although 2019 was my Year of Yes, as Toi commented, I am open to what comes to me. I will also be manifesting what I want.