awesome!

Yes. I needed to hear this, but it’s so intimidating. Who am I to have something awe inspiring to say?

It seems both intimidating and pompous to consider. But I know you’re right. The things I have enthusiastically shared—sometimes couldn’t wait until I was finished reading before shooting off a dozen emails—were things that made me see the common as extraordinary.

So I’ve been on the receiving end. How do I turn that around and put myself on the supply side? More difficult, for me at least.

Thanks for your generosity Justine. With this post and so many others like it on your site you have given real value. It is appreciated.

In my wildest dreams, I want to be the kind of writer and have the kind of impact that Madeline L’Engle had.

I want to write books that kids and teens read over and over again–even into adulthood– because the stories and the characters resonate with something deep inside them. Stories that push them to be better than they think they can be.

Stories that tell them it’s more than okay to dream, it’s vital.

Stories that don’t shy away from hard truths–that life involves difficult choices–but that also remind them they have the power to make those choices.

Thank you for reminding me what it’s all really about.

Thanks for the post, especially the link to Maass’s blog.

Thank you for the props! I appreciate that.

All the best with your own world domination plans.

cg

great post thanks for sharing it!

Thanks for this great post. I’ve always told people this point in the simplest terms I could think of, which was “If you move people on the inside, people will move your content on the outside.”

I am not a fiction writer. I am a copywriter, a journalist, a flack, an editor, and a snarky blogger and Tweeter. I have my passions, yes, but for me it’s less about creating a social movement and more about getting the message across the best way possible, whichever hat I’m wearing at the time.

Thanks for the inspiration. :)

Interesting and it relates to some reading I’ve been doing.

I think to be successful at anything the primary goal isn’t to inspire others but to focus on a topic/goal you are passionate about. You lose focus if you think to much about the affect your work will have on the public and your peers.

I can’t quote it at the moment bc I’m to lazy to look it up but there was a study done where a group of students were given a poetry competition assignment. One group was told about the rewards and status that comes from winning, the other was told to focus joy of writing and what moved them, and the other group was told nothing. The 2nd groups poem’s stole the show.

Point was that inspiring others comes if you work at what you care about because that’s where you excel.

Note I’m not a writer you can probably tell by the grammar :)

“If you move people on the inside, people will move your content on the outside.” That’s awesome. And so true.

Thanks! :)

You’re absolutely right, and the key to mastering anything is to fall in love with the process, instead of fixating on the desired outcome. Being passionate about the process will motivate you to stay in it longer and push yourself further and take risks, experiment, innovate — in short, to put all of yourself into the work.

So that’s the thing — if you can find a way to turn ‘building an author platform’ into a *process* that excites you and has meaning for you. Which means it has to be about more than just selling books. It has to tap into your core passions in some way, yet still relate to your writing. The challenge is to figure out how to do that — how to transform it from a self-promotional thing into something that genuinely moves you (and thus others).

Not at all! — it was a well-written post. And the anecdote about the poetry competition is really interesting. You’re tapping into the principles behind concepts such as ‘flow’ and ‘deliberate practice’ — when we lose ourselves in the work, time disappears, and we perform in a heightened state. It’s awesome. :)

Thank you for such an awesome comment.

Now go forth and empower young people!

If you could create a social movement with your writing, what kind of social movement would it be?

A merry disorganized rabble, neither owning nor desiring any lord or master; full of argument and monkey curiosity, in love with the world and the good things thereof; and moving principally in every direction at once, except the narrow mean ones. And each admitting small duty to their neighbours except plain good-fellowship and the dictates of their private code, but filling those bowls to overflowing, and quick to jog a country mile past duty for the whim and the worth of it. And when a last stand surprises them at the end of any path, yet still there is a panache, and they need not fall alone.

That is what it would be like. I don’t know how far I’m fit to live like that, but I do know that at the top of my game I can sing a fair song of it. Perhaps that is part enough to play: it would be nice to think so. Yes, I suppose its call does reach close to the heart of my tellings, at that.

You did ask, and it was a very good question!

Again, a compelling post. I agree with everything Donald Maass has written here. And I also agree with your added comments about falling in love with the process and not just the outcome. (One can apply that to just about everything.)

Regarding Donald’s post: I think that any offering which induces an uplifting emotional response, or allows the recipient to gain an expanded insight, would be called “Art.” And the more “universal” the emotional connections, the greater influence the artistic expression has on society, assuming many people have access to the experience.

For me, the most important part of my “movement,” if I had one, would be to make honestly a corner stone of every decision we all make. I do realize though, that many of us, if not all, rationalize personal honesty to fit the desired outcomes. Or worse, our true motivations and fears are hidden by our egos. I suspect that if we could break through our mental barriers and release truth within ourselves, we might connect to others in deeper and more meaningful ways — through our writing and most importantly, through our personal actions.

Yet…it takes two to tango. Some people don’t want “deep and meaningful.” And others have been socially programmed to lie. (All for the “right” reasons, of course.) And others are simply lost.

The biggest surprise I encountered, and learned, when people read my books was:

ONE CANNOT TEACH WISDOM, as in insight.

One CAN however, affect emotions. So on on this level, something intangible IS being communicated. Hopefully, it’s positive.

I think fiction is all about communicating the kinds of truths that really can’t be delivered any other way except through emotional experience.

When I was in my early twenties I was really struck by CAT’S EYE by Margaret Atwood. I loved the book and was impressed by it because it was so deep and rich you could come at it in so many different ways — I wrote several essays on it in different classes in university. Then one summer when I was back in my hometown managing the drive-thru at Taco Bell I kept noticing how many other people were reading it and they were just enjoying it as a straight story, the way I did when I first read it at 15. I decided that that was the kind of book I wanted to write: depth and meaning there if you wanted it or were looking for it, and a good, compelling story either way.

start that movement today! give it a name and a blog/website! the world needs you! :)

Yet another great post Justine.
Reminds of the saying, “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

I’d dare say that the people, books, movies, songs, or any contribution for that matter, that remain with us are those that have moved us and therefore changed us.

Shawn