Guest Blogger, today: Shelly Arkon

Hello, again, all.  Hope all is well for everyone.  Today, I want to introduce to you another wonderful writer that I admire whose works are wonderful.  Her name is Shelly Arkon.  And she is a guest blogger for today, here.  And rather than do interview questions which can sometimes only limit the information readers can read in these blogs, you will be able to read a blog piece, completely by her below this introduction point.  Take it away, Shelly:

Don’t Take Anything Personally

By

Shelly Arkon

April, thank you for having me today. I’m so glad to have been invited here to share a little wisdom.

The line in the title, ‘don’t take anything personally’ comes from the book, The Four Agreements, by Miguel Ruiz. I love this book. When my life goes upside down and peeps are grating me the wrong way, I pick it up and read. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve read it. It’s all marked up, and dissected with colorful, too. You could say, I’ve gotten a lot out of it.

The entire book makes total sense to me. Especially, the don’t-take-anything-personally-part.

A couple weeks ago I went through a series of events. First, I attended my writer’s group mini conference. The speaker of the day was a book editor from one of our local papers. When it was time for questions and answers, one of the questions was “do you read and review Indie authors”. The answer was not positive and neither was the excuse.

Secondly, I thought it would be a cool idea if I attended a local reading festival and promoted my up and coming book, Secondhand Shoes. Well, I read the application’s rhetoric and found it insulting since I’ve decided to go Indie.

 I couldn’t consider being a featured artist at the event per the application. Needless to say, I vented on my blog, The Life of a Novice Writer. You can find my rant here: http://shellysnovicewritings.blogspot.com/2012/08/insecure-writers-group-dont-take.html

I was pretty upset, but I’ve cooled my heels since. And I’ve taken the time to go through, The Four Agreements, again. Its amazing how every time I read this I glean out some cool stuff like I’ve never read it before. The following passage is really cool, man. Totally rad.

“One fear or doubt planted in our minds can create an endless drama of events. One word is like a spell, and humans use the word like black magicians, thoughtlessly putting spells on each other.” Pg 28

This passage tells me to believe in myself and not let the negative take root. Don’t believe in other peep’s negative words. Don’t let someone else’s poor choice of words bring me down. I mean…I need to get some thick skin growing, my book will be out soon. And there will be reviews. Good and bad, I have no doubt.

It also tells me, we as Indies should stand up and hold our heads high. We’re unique for going against the grain. We are artists who have not bought into being putty in the hands of controlling corporate publishers. We are writerly artists with voices to be heard and stories to be told. We have nothing to be ashamed of even if our works of art were considered non-marketable by the upper crust. It was an opinion. That’s all. And you know what they say about opinions. Everyone has one like a butt-hole.

And if anyone from the hierarchy of publishing insults an author for going Indie, it only means that they’re insecure with the current events surrounding them. These control freaks…well, can’t control what’s going on around them. Bookstores are closing. People are turning to e-readers to get their books. And many Indies are making significant sums of money that the corporate world will never be able to touch.

So, my friends, don’t take it personally. Be a proud Indie.

And again, thank you, April for letting me write my mind.

Shelly’s Bio

When Shelly isn’t doing the laundry, cleaning, cooking, chasing grandkids, listening daughter drama (five of them), or lopping heads of hair at the salon, she’s writing beside her two fur-peeps, Sir Poops and Hair Ball, while her hubby is flipping through TV channels. Her debut novel, Secondhand Shoes, will be out soon. She’s also the keeper of another blog Secondhand Shoes, A Novel, http://secondhandshoesnovel.blogspot.com/ 

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Shelly, you are very welcome.  Any time.  Thank you for posting, here.  It was definitely an honour to have you, here, today.  And to all Indie authors, keep up the great work.  :)  I truly mean that.

April Morone