Overcoming Insecurity for Emerging Writers with Laurel Thomas

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Hey, hello and welcome to the Writing Momentum Podcast.

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I'm Christopher Maselli.

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I'm here with my wife Gena.

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How's it going Gena?

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Hello!

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It's going great.

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It's a good day.

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We've got a beautiful person joining us.

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Yes.

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Yes.

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We are talking today with Laurel Thomas, a former high school

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English teacher, Laurel Thomas.

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She loves words and their power to convey remarkable stories.

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She's an award-winning author who's written for inspirational magazines

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like Guideposts and Mysterious Ways, as well as she's ghosted nonfiction.

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And her novels include River's Call When Stars Brush Earth, and her latest, Stones

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of Promise, and then of course, you'll also find her at WriterCon, which we love,

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where she administers check-in and pretty much holds the whole thing together.

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Yeah, she really does.

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How are you doing today, Laurel?

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Welcome, Laurel.

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I'm good.

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It's great to see you both.

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Yes.

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I'm so glad we get to have you on the podcast because you're just one of our

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favorite people overall, and we just we're like, we gotta get Laurel on here

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because this is, it's gonna be so good.

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And today we're actually, we're gonna talk about an interesting topic which

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is overcoming authors insecurities.

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Yeah?

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Yes.

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Overcoming authors insecurities.

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And this was one that, this was a topic that Laurel brought up to us,

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and I loved it because she's got a journey that she's been on with this.

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And is now helping other authors overcome that.

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So I loved that and anybody who's met Laurel knows just how kind and warm

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she is and how she just you feel very safe whenever you're with Laurel.

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. Okay.

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So to start off, Laurel, you gotta tell us, define for

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us insecurities for authors.

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What kind of insecurities might an author face?

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It is such a solitary craft.

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And actually, so I have this idea, and I can't say that I've heard it proven,

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but I think that when you start to pursue something that really you were

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created to pursue that you're gonna walk in greater and greater freedom.

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And actually that's basically what happened to me, I had been writing

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for many years and loved it.

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I wrote nonfiction, I ghosted nonfiction.

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And I loved it, but when I decided to pursue storytelling, that for

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some reason was a big leap for me.

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And I thought, oh no.

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You don't have permission to do that.

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It's far too much fun.

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And so I remember, Chris, you gave me feedback at one of the writer con

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conferences and it was for a Rivers Call and you were like, go for it.

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Go for traditional publishing.

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And I think you knew that I would not be like a world class marketer at the time.

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So traditional publishing was the way to go.

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And actually I got the contract for River's Call at that conference.

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So anyway.

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That was that first part of the story.

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That's awesome.

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Yeah.

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It is funny 'cause the way publishing is going, we often, you do encourage

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people right, to just do, go ahead and self-publish, right?

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But there are instances where as, especially a person like you're

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really good at networking, getting to know people and that sort of thing.

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And I think that really works well with the traditional market with

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the books you're doing in that.

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And yeah, you're on book number three here and just going strong, aren't you?

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Yes.

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And you know so much that is giving yourself permission.

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I have this one, I have, I call it immersion therapy for my introvert heart.

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And occasionally I'll ask myself in the morning, I'll say, what should

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you do that you don't want to do?

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So one of those things was I've been doing these minute one minute

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Reels for Write Your Heart Out that Target emerging authors and, they're

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just meant to be encouraging and they have to be totally impromptu.

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So at first I did them.

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I put my camera on my writing table instead of me and gave my little blurb,

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but then I got braver and braver, and now I realize the people that I watch.

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You and Gena different YouTube people.

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I watch them because of what they offer, the value they

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offer in that particular realm.

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That whole immersion thing has helped me get outta myself and say, especially

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being spontaneous, because I tend to be a perfectionist, so having just a boom

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say something within a minute, without copious amounts of time, because we

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don't have copious amounts of time.

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Has been really good for helping me get out of that box.

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It's really like a muscle you have to exercise, isn't it?

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Yes.

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That's a great way to look at it.

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And I think that writers are often introverts and when they first hear

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that they're gonna have to become a business person and actually market,

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it's I remember the first, do you remember Write Well Sell Well, when we

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were at Crossings and Chris was teaching and it was amazing information about

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marketing, all things, connecting.

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And really Chris, I was like I'm gonna hope I never have to do any of this.

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But of course you do.

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And part of it is acknowledging your value and acknowledging that the

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time that you put into, especially, let's just take story for example.

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The hours and hours of time that you put into learning the craft

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and actually doing the craft makes it a valuable piece of work.

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And that it should be shared.

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You guys are so good and really I encourage my Write your Heart Out people

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to use writing momentum resources because if you are going to spend your life

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doing something and you're doing your best to do it well, it's like a gift

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that's just finally wrapped, right?

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It's not just thrown in a brown paper bag and offered to the world.

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It's finally wrapped in a way that people go, you know what, maybe I'll read that.

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Or when they do read it, they say, you know what?

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That, that changed the way I look at something, or, whatever.

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The power of story is so incredible.

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And so I just had to say, look, I believe that I'm offering something

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of value and just pull down the smoke screen that, it didn't really

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matter because it does matter.

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That's really good.

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On your journey you were talking, we started talking about this

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idea of overcoming insecurities.

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You talked about your journey really during Covid, that some of this

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happened for you coming out of Covid.

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Can you talk about that a little bit?

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I started working with this amazing little woman, Selah Hirsch and she is

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a brand specialist and so we started working together in February of 2020.

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Really, before C O V I D really had come on the scene as far as

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anything in the United States.

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And so I thought it was just gonna be just a little marketing advice.

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She was gonna help me.

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Promote books or whatever.

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It was much more expansive than that.

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And I, we didn't even have our website completed the updated version.

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It was, things were just not ready as far as the business of

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write your heart out as far as the appearance of Write your Heart out.

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But Selah said, you know what?

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All of the universe is online right now and we're going to get you online.

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And I was like, what?

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So we just, it was a good plunge.

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When all of the world was being reset, I was being reset too.

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And, Met all these amazing people online, started critique groups and

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one-on-one coaching and started Writer's Roundtable, which is basically a free

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community that meets on Tuesdays at noon.

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And yeah, it was launched.

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That whole business of Write Your Heart Out was launched in 2020, but

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in a deeper way, I think I allowed myself to be launched in the process.

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Yes.

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And so you're working with writers every week who are you

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call them emerging authors.

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These are authors who's, a lot of them that they're, they haven't

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written their first book yet.

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They're just learning how, and they're getting to that place.

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What insecurities do you often see that rise up in those different

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authors that might cause them to not get their work written right.

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To make them feel like, ah, I can't do it enough?

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Is it just a, is it just a general insecurity of I'm not I can't do this?

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Or are there more things that pop up too?

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I think that it really, it's not true for every writer because I don't think

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every writer has deep insecurities.

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But as an artist, I've found that even, working on my fourth novel, I'm

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like, I, are you sure you can do this?

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This is large.

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This is a lot of words.

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Who gives you the permission to call yourself a novelist?

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And so I don't know if people do, if writers, I always tell writers,

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You are a writer if you wanna write.

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There are certain characteristics of writers.

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They love words, they love the power of words.

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Often, they may already be speaking.

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Often, they're already have written.

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Like for me, I wrote for years before I ever called myself a writer.

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I wrote books for pastors and I don't know, I, for some

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reason, I just didn't think.

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That it was really that big a deal, but, and is that maybe it, Chris,

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where we just tend to undervalue something that's such a big part of us?

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Yeah.

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I'm not sure why, but it was true for me.

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I think that's true.

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I think there's a lot of times where you are doing something

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and you don't know, you don't recognize what's special about it.

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Other people probably recognize what's special about it, but you still feel

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like I'm just the little kid at the grownup table here and so I think that's,

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I think, undervaluing what we bring.

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And that's in all areas.

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Whether it's writing novels or doing marketing or, and you even said at

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the beginning that, you just didn't consider yourself a marketer and you

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weren't really sure about it, and yet that's really what you're doing

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every time you meet with people.

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And when you give to these these round table groups and critique

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groups and things like that, you're marketing that It's a different, it's

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a very relational type marketing.

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But it's funny to hear you say that you don't consider yourself a marketer.

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You probably didn't.

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But from the outside looking in, I think Laurel's, she's a really good marketer.

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She's just found a way to do it that's comfortable for her.

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And so I think that's, I think that's what a lot of people probably deal with when

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it is that they don't see what they bring, they don't see what is unique and special

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and beautiful about what they bring.

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Definitely.

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Yeah.

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Very insightful.

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I wanna go back into something that you said at the very beginning.

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You talked about how writing was something that's a very solitary something we do.

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And this is, this has been a thought that we have seen time and again as we've

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been working with writers also, is that writing can be the kind of thing that if

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you allow it, You can just be in your own world, in your own desk, at your own house

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and not have any interaction with anyone.

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And that, I think, is when a lot of those insecurities come out.

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And this is why it's so important to make it not a solitary venture, right?

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This needs to be something where you get together with other people on a regular

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basis, which I know is why you created write Your Heart Out and you have your

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regular group that meets every week.

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You can check it out at, it is writewithlaurel.com, right?

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And.

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Yes.

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Yes and we do writing moments for the same reason because we know there's

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got to be a place that writers can come together and encourage one another and

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see that, I'm not doing this alone.

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And something about that working together really tends to break down those walls of

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insecurity I think that a lot of us feel.

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Would you agree?

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I totally agree, Chris.

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I think that was the biggest part when we started Write Well Sell Well

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and started having the conferences and then became Writer Con.

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Someone talked to me about just competition and that kind of thing.

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But I have to say that in the writer's communities that I've been a part of

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and actually my community's grown large in the, over the years with all of the

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different ways that we've reached out, I don't see that mean competition.

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I see a lot of support.

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I see people who are willing to give what they have and what they know

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about what makes for a good story.

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And so although the writer's community is enormous I'd say, find

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community that affirms you but not just affirms you also equips you.

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Yes.

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And you have to have both.

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And so to a certain extent, that whole, I think insecurity

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can, it can be such a block.

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For just saying, you know what I'm just gonna humble

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myself and I'll figure it out.

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I'll get connected some, someone will show me, someone will help me or I'll learn it.

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And and then just making progress that way.

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Yeah.

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'cause there's room this thing for all of us, isn't there?

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That's what we have always been promoting that there's room for everybody and yes

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there's enough readers to go around.

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There's enough writing opportunities, there's enough genres.

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There's definitely enough for all of us to do what we're called

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to do in whatever capacity.

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Absolutely.

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Tell us, Laurel, tell us about where people can find out more about you.

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We've mentioned some different things, but let's just hear it from

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you one more time so that people know where to find Laurel Thomas.

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Great.

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www.writewithlaurel.com is my website and you can connect

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into writer's Roundtable there.

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I'm also active on Facebook.

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My author page is Laurel A.

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Thomas, and of course on Instagram and all the things.

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You can find me there and as Chris said, we'll be at Writer Con in

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Oklahoma City over Labor Day weekend.

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We're so excited.

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That conference is like Christmas to me.

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It takes so much work, but it's so worth it when we're there.

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I would say authors who are looking, or even people who are not giving

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themselves the name of writer yet, come on board to a conference like Writer Con.

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Because that's a, just a jump into the pool, right?

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Yes.

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It's large.

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It's a community that is affirming, and yet, with 60 classes, you're

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gonna find something that will equip you and that will propel you as well.

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A hundred percent.

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That's only a few weeks away from when this goes out.

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And you can find out more about WriterCon at writercon.org.

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And if you use the special code, WEAREWRITERS you get I think

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$50 off or something like that.

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You said writer con.org does it?

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I know it's writer con.com.

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Oh, that's right.

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It used to be write con.org.

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I think either one will get you there.

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Do writer con.com.

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Make sure just to be safe.

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Whoops.

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Yeah.

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Do that.

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But then you use the coupon code WEAREWRITERS.

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Now, Laurel, what's on the horizon for you?

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What's coming or what's new with you?

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I am so excited that I have been working on a new novel called, Her

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Name is Gatekeeper, and it's just out of a question that I had and actually

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that I've had for a number of years.

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We'll talk about that a little bit later, but I've been having a lot

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of fun crafting it and as an artist reminding myself that it's okay to

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have uncertainty in this journey of storytelling because you're gonna have

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to have a certain amount of discovery.

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And so anyway I love the discovery aspect of writing a novel and I'm

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excited about how that's shaping into Her Name Is Gatekeeper.

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That's awesome.

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That's awesome.

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And we know you've got a current book, Stones of Promise, which is

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out right now on Amazon and wherever good books are sold, as well as you

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can find your other books there too.

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And so if you want to get into some just really good fiction, you

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want to check out Laurel's books.

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Definitely.

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Thank you so much for coming and being with us today, Laurel, we

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cannot wait to see you at Writer Con.

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We're so excited to see you face to face.

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We always are.

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We get so excited to come and visit with you.

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If you have enjoyed this podcast, we hope that you will rate, review,

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subscribe, and share it with a friend or someone in your writing group or

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someone or a who you think, or someone that, that you think that person is a

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writer, they just don't know it yet.

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Definitely share it with them because labels aside, I love how

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laurel has talked about writing in the sense of being an artist.

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And so if you are an artist who just happens to use words, definitely share

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this with that person and enjoy it.

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Yeah.

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And remember, hey, writing is not a solitary venture because

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Or it shouldn't be.

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It shouldn't be because

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Together we have writing momentum.

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Bye.