Monday, July 19, 2010

The Power of Belief - A Guest Post With Author Christine Fonseca

I'm so excited to have author Christine Fonseca as a guest on my blog today! She's a talented writer (in both the fiction and non-fiction arenas) and always there for me when I need a pick-up. We've been talking a lot about the road to publication and what it takes to make it. Her post today literally brought tears to my eyes. Take it away, Christine!

Before I get into today’s guest post, I want to take a minute to thank Amanda for having me. Amanda and I met on the interwebz a year ago or so. Since that time, we’ve belonged to the same Blog Chain group and traveled similar circles. She’s hung out on my blog sharing an interview or her words of wisdom. Most recently, she’s been one of my go-to peeps to swap an idea or two with. Amanda is a great writer with a fabulous future. I am so excited to see what exciting things happen for her.

Which brings me to today’s post – The Power of Belief.

I stumbled across the following quote while wasting time researching on the interwebz.

“Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have NO choice but to believe with you.” - Cynthia Kersey

The words struck a chord with me, reaching deep into some unspoken place.

...believe in yourself…believe in yourself

The words wrapped around me, seeping into my skin. The missing ingredient over the past few weeks. The differentiating piece between success and failure.

Belief.

We can all agree that it takes good writing, good timing and a little luck to make it in this business. But it takes something else as well.

The infallible belief that YOU WILL MAKE IT.

That belief will carry you through the hard times, because yes – there will be hard times.

And that belief will force you to do what is necessary for success.

It will force you to improve your craft, create new stories, and revise until your eyes bleed.

Belief in yourself and your success will force you to find honest – brutally honest – crit partners. It will force you to see the stories in a new light, force you to jump into the deep end of the query pool as often as necessary to find that agent or make that sale.

These actions will make the world will stand up and believe in your success as much as you do.
One of my writerly buds used to tell me to Dream Big. I have a new saying…

“Dream big and have the strength to believe it will happen.”

Do you believe?

Christine writes nonfiction and fiction for teens and adults. Her upcoming release, Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students (Prufrock Press, October 2010) deals with the often turbulent world of giftedness. When she is not working as a school psychologist helping adolescents deal with the transition to adulthood, or playing Band Hero with her husband and daughters, she can be found sipping a skinny vanilla latte at her favorite coffee house, writing her next book.

10 comments:

Christine Fonseca said...

THanks Amanda!

Angie said...

Inspiring post! The second one I've read today on believing in myself. I think it's a sign. I WILL believe!

Cole Gibsen said...

Beautiful uplifting post.

Eric said...

Absolutely awesome post. Of course, I expect nothing less from Christine. And Amanda, thanks for allowing her to post this. This is insightful and oh so true.

Unknown said...

Beautiful post Christine!!!

I think believing has to be my new mantra... especially since I'm in revisions, these are the pivitol moments where I will need an uplifting post and tons of support, which you've now given me!!!

Thanks :)

Kristy @Loveandblasphemy said...

Just what I needed! This will be the kind of thing that I will remember and think back on when I need it!

Katie Anderson said...

Loved this post y'all! and so so true. I loved the "eye bleeding" part. ha! (maybe because that's where I am.)

giggles.

xoxo

Michelle McLean said...

wonderful post!

Unknown said...

Great post, great mantra. I'm a firm believer that the world is at our fingertips. If we want something badly enough, and are willing to go after it, it's our for the taking. This believe-in-ourselves bit is rather like a reader's necessity of suspension of disbelief, yes? ;)

holly cupala said...

Wonderful post, Christine! My husband (who tends to believe in me way more than I believe in myself) bought me a little "Believe" box full of wonderful quotes like that, and every once in a while I will open one. Here's a quote I keep taped to my monitor:

"Open your arms as wide as you can to receive all the miracles with your name on them." - Suzanna Thompson

I see you catching miracles, and it's just so cool! xoxo