Killing Envy in Your Writing

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. (Romans 13:13, KJV)

We are envious creatures.  We all want.  We want a lot.  And in the big expanse of the world, we are certainly going to find at least one person who has exactly what we want -- in abundance.

And we're going to question why.  Why that person and not us?  Why so much for that person and nothing for us?  When will we get ours?

When we're envious, we are discontent; we long to have other's achievements, advantages, successes, and possessions.  Envy often leads to jealousy as we move from being emotional (sad, discontent) over someone's possessions to being resentful that someone has gained something that we believe we should have gained instead.

Envy is detrimental for several reasons - one in particular is this:  we denounce our own worth by comparing and wanting and becoming resentful over what other people have.

How can we be on the right path of our life, the life God wants us to have if we are so busy peeking over into the yards of others' lives and wanting what they have?

We can't be on the right path.  We won't be on the right path.

It's hard.  As humans, we want what we want when we want it.  No exceptions.  We live on the world's time, not God's time.  God gives to us when it's our time to have it.  We fail to realize that the very things we want of others could be ours if we spent more time acting in our lives and less time wanting others' lives.

In the world of publishing, it’s easy to get envious. You’re a voracious reader. You have networked with other writers, both unpublished and published. You have researched agents and editors until you believe you could recite every agent and editor that exists. You have taken classes and workshops, even pursued a degree to help you better your craft. You write, a lot—not just with the goal of being published but also with the goal of being a better writer each time you come out the writing gate. You have written, rewritten, and rewritten two, three or more times your elevator pitches, query letters, and synopses. You have revised your manuscript more times than your fingers can count. You have had your book professionally edited. You’re ready to send your literary baby out into the world, and you do. You send to agents. You send to editors who allow for unagented submissions. You send sample chapters to author friends, asking if they could recommend agents, editors. You do all of this. Not just for weeks, months. Years. And every year, as you polish a new manuscript, send it out, and start working on your next baby, you see others getting published.

Frustration settles. Irritation settles. Agitation settles. Doubt settles. Failure settles. Envy settles and takes root and colors the work you’ve done, the work that still needs to be done for you to reach your own literary success. It’s not easy. Reaching Publishdom isn’t necessarily about talent—and it’s important to know that. Yes, it’s important to be talented, and as a person who is big on the writing craft and seeing writers constantly trying to master their craft, I believe it is the most vital thing a writer can have. However, other components play a role, too—marketability, persistence, perseverance, connections, and luck to name a few. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, what we haven’t received yet, we should focus on what else we can do, what more we can do to claim our rightful success. There is plenty to go around—we don’t need to covet others’ literary success.

We have to recognize the green-eyed monster. It exists. No need in frontin’ like it doesn’t. I openly admit that I have been envious, I have been jealous. And recently, too. It's hard to admit that.  No one ever does.  But I know if I work harder at what I need to do, if I focus on mine and not others, if I talk to God and ask Him to guide me in my own successes and to remove envy from my heart; at some point, envy will be removed and the space to allow my successes room will expand.

And then, I will have killed envy.

And then, I will succeed.

The Importance of Being Open

A week or so ago, I received wonderful news; I learned that my best friend's husband was in remission from his leukemia. This was beyond wonderful news. Or great news. Or awesome news. This was, indeed, a major blessing, a miracle. He was only diagnosed this year, and his case was severely advanced. In fact, the prognosis wasn't a good one. When he went from 100% cancer to 6% cancer in the matter of five months, doctors were astounded; they brought in even more doctors to try to figure out how this could happen.

"We've never seen anything like this," a doctor said.

And my girlfriend and I could only laugh. We were pretty sure he hadn't. It was all the hand of God.

And when my girlfriend's hubby went from 6% to NOTHING two weeks later, they were stumped yet again.

As I talked on the phone with my girlfriend while she shared this wondrous news, this tickle raced up and down my spine, and I smiled, then nodded.

God had given me a message.

A message through my best friend's husband.

For last few weeks, I had slowly but surely gone into a depression, and just the day before my friend called, I had hit the stage of I CAN'T DO THIS. I felt like a failure with school, with everything in my life, and I just knew that everyone would eventually learn that I couldn't cut it.

And then I received this news from my friend.

Over the phone, I told her, "God just gave me a message through hubby. Surely, if God is great enough to heal him from cancer, he can do a work in me. My issues so pale in comparison."

This blessing that had rained upon my friend and her hubby, in effect, had rained down upon me, too, and almost instantly, I truly felt like I could do all things.


How does this apply to writing?

Here was my lesson learned: Sometimes, God gives you answers through the trials and triumphs of others. Be open. Watch intently. Listen closely.

You can use the trials and triumphs of writers before you to propel you forward. Through the various social networks I belong to, I spend a great deal of time listening to stories. Listening to those authors who submitted like crazy for years before getting their big break. I listen to the stories of those who managed to hit big on the very first try. I listen to those who hit it big then have their run well dry and have to try for yet another big break. These stories supply me with information. The what to dos, the what not to dos.

You can use the works of others to inspire your own work. I have a handful of authors that I truly love, and when a book of theirs drops, I buy it to see how their writing has changed-- if it's changed. I read to learn more - about the craft, about the author, about his/her technique, and how I might apply those things to my own writing.

You can join organizations that are a bit out of the ordinary to learn what's going on in that part of publishing. I watch to see what's going on African American fiction, but I also join more multicultural organizations, too, because I want to be mainstream, and I want to see what's being published or not being published on that front, too. I check out organizations based on various genres so I can see how sales are going within those genres, to learn of new sub-genres, and to find out which editors, agents might be looking for that type of material.

Every genre has its trailblazers, those that have made the way before us much smoother, who have knocked down walls and allowed space for us and our words. It's important for us to find these trailblazers, to learn of their journeys, and to delve deep within ourselves in order to discern how we can forge our own trails for others to follow.

You never know who can be the catalyst to help you to achieve your literary dream.

You never know how much you can that catalyst to help another achieve his or her literary dream.

Be open. Watch intently. Listen closely.

Believe~Act~Receive

I have a faith blog where occasionally, I pick one of my favorite verses and write a short thought about it. One verse I chose, that I love a lot, is  "If you believe, you will receive…" (Matthew 21:22, NIV)

On my blog I talk about the importance of fully believing, of letting that belief infiltrate your mind and thoughts so fully that you start to think the belief is true NOW. As such, your actions change, synching with your belief, and before you know it, you have received.

Why am I bringing this up now? How does this tie to writing?

Think about it.

We all dream of being published. We all dream of having our words within the hard covers of a book that others will read and enjoy.

We all sit in front of our computers or before our notepads and write the stories we wish to tell.

But are we really writing the stories we want to tell?

Are we really pursuing publication vigorously?

If you believe that you are a published author, then you have to ACT in a fashion that will make this belief a reality.

How do you do that?

First- think about what's on your heart. Think about the stories that will move you, that will reveal your passion and true gift as a writer, and write those stories.

Second- Be creative. Once that story is written, a synopsis has to be written, too. A query letter, too. A pitch, too. All tools that entice an editor or agent. These tools need to make your literary baby SHINE; therefore, careful creative attention will be necessary.

Third- Be studious. Buy magazines like Writer's Digest. Buy books like 2011 Writer's Market. Check out sites Agent Query. Peruse the front pages of books similar to yours at bookstores. Why? Writer's Digest has awesome articles on many of the tools mentioned above, and it always has information about markets. 2011 Writer's Market has the names and addresses of literary agents and editors who are waiting to discover YOUR book. Agent Query is an easy database to help you find agents. If you go to the bookstore and browse through the front pages of books like yours, then you might come across an agent or editor name that you can look up later and consider submitting to.

Fourth- Be tenacious. Generate a list of agents and editors you'd like to contact. Fine-tune your tools (synopsis, query letter, pitch). Have your book edited. And submit systematically. Every month, submit SOMETHING. And while you're submitting, WRITE the NEXT work. If this is the dream you want, you have to be ALL or NOTHING to make that dream a reality.


Before you is PublishDom, the world of the published author. Between you and PublishDom is the road you must travel to reach it. If you believe you are that published author, you will act upon the above suggestions to help you BECOME that published author.

Writing the Vision

Then the LORD answered me and said:


Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk 2:2-4


This verse always speaks to my spirit, both my faith-filled spirit and my writerly spirit.

There are many of us who dream of having our words be read by others - to move others with our stories, with our testimonies. We want to entertain, educate readers.

But sometimes we stunt our own growth because we are not writing our vision. We dedicate time to everything - family, work, friends, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, e-mail, and the list goes on and on. And do you know what's usually at the bottom of that list? Writing. And for many of us, writing is our passion. If you're like me, you believe writing is one of your life purposes.

What a disservice we do to ourselves by not reveling in our passion, in a talent God has lovingly given to us.

Though I am taking literary liberties with this verse, I believe our appointed time for the writing vision to come is now. We can make the decision to rededicate ourselves to our words, to the stories that pull us out of bed at three in the morning.

When we take the time to write our stories, plain upon tablets, their appointed time for publication will come, and readers will run to take part in it.

Make your appointed time today and connect with your literary passion.