Richard Levesque

There’s a lot of buzz in academic circles these days about “growth mindset“–an idea based on these principles: (1) the human brain actually grows new neural connections when we learn things, and (2) when people are aware of this brain growth and believe that they can grow their brains, they actually persevere in the face of obstacles, viewing failure as an opportunity to learn. This is particularly helpful for at-risk students who’ve always felt they just weren’t good at (fill in the blank) and therefore don’t feel motivated to try–known as “fixed mindset” or the belief that our brain/intelligence is something that is fixed and inflexible rather than filled with potential for growth.

The person with growth mindset has grit, stamina, perseverance, and passion. Such people refuse to give up in the face of adversity. They see a challenge as a sign that they’re ready for the next step along the path to their goal, not as proof that they’re just not good at this or that.

As I’ve been reading about growth mindset and talking to students and colleagues about it, I’ve realized that growth mindset is a huge component of the other part of my life, the non-academic part, the writer part. I can think of example after example of things I’ve bumped up against as a self-published author that required me to either learn a new skill or give up. And I’m not alone. As I talk to other writers and read other people’s blogs and posts on social media, I see writer after writer who has the right mindset.

One common thread that runs through the self-publishing world is the idea that many writers have spent years learning the craft of writing, building off their natural abilities (if they had them) or learning from the ground up if all they had at the start was a lot of passion and not much in the way of skill. Once they decide to turn away from traditional publishing, they discover that they now need to learn all about marketing, web design, blogging, advertising, SEO, discoverability, business plans…the list goes on. If they’re doing their own covers, they have to learn cover design, graphic arts software, etc. If they’re going to be their own editors, that’s its own huge task. If they’re not going to do those things, they have to learn how to find artists and editors with whom they can work comfortably and happily.

And guess what?

Most writers do all those things. And more. They do it by putting in a lot of hard work, studying the successes of others, and forming networks with other writers so they can learn from each others’ successes and failures.

They’ve grown their brains, pushed themselves to go beyond being (just) writers and instead are now writer/entrepreneurs. The self-published writer who’s unwilling to grow in these ways isn’t likely to find much success.

And why do they do it? What drives the indie writer to believe he/she can become this super-human master of all things publishing? The answers are many. One thing a lot of writers have is a huge ego–the belief that they can and will succeed, that they’re just as good as (or better than) the current bestselling authors, that their stories are awesome and are just waiting for the right audience to discover them. Then…look out world!

So that’s certainly helpful. Beyond that, though, I think it’s also sheer willfulness and desire; it’s a passion for the dream, the same passion that pushed many of those same writers to keep working in the old days (before the indie publishing revolution) when agents and editors and rejection letters kept saying “Nope. Not good enough.” They kept going. The ones who didn’t…didn’t. And weren’t heard from again.

When I was struggling to make a go of it in traditional publishing, people told me to persevere, persevere, persevere, indicating that giving up was the surest way to guarantee failure, that sticking to it was what separated the successes from the also-rans. That need for perseverance didn’t go away when I went indie; it just multiplied by about a thousand. Fortunately for me, it’s been there when I needed it, especially when things seemed hopeless. How many of us heard that success isn’t a sprint but a marathon? That’s the attitude one needs to have…ready for the long race, ready to pace oneself, ready to feel like the wall’s just been hit but knowing nevertheless that it’s not the end.

Is too much ego involved when indie writers hit the “publish” button? Too much dogged determination in total disregard of the evidence that maybe one shouldn’t be publishing (yet)? Maybe. Even so, there’s something admirable about that tenacity. I may shake my head when I see a terrible cover and lousy blurb or read an excerpt that’s loaded with mistakes, but I can also see the same kernel of passion in those writers that has kept me going for a lot of years.

Thanks for reading.

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