Use What You Have

Last week I wrote about The Unwelcomed Teacher: Adversity. If you haven't noticed it, the publishing world is full of bumps in the road. You have to determine whether you will let those bumps become obstacles or opportunities.

I ran into one of these "bumps" yesterday. To help launch my new Ebook, Writing for the Christian Market, I'm offering a free teleseminar. For a portion of the teleseminar, I've been promoting the fact that for part of the session, I have a magazine editor for one of the best places to break into the Christian magazine market. I did not reveal this editor’s name. This editor had agreed to participate and I needed to send him the details about how to call into the session. Imagine my internal groan when I received his email that he would not be able to participate because he teaches a weekly Bible study at exactly that same time period. So much for my magazine editor who would be my mystery guest. Or was it?

With this cancellation, I could have shrugged it and not had a guest editor--or I could use what I have in front of me (a massive network from my years in this market is what I'm using) and see if I could get another participant. I looked in The Christian Writers' Market Guide and located another publication which was similar to the first editor. I picked up the phone and called this editor. I mistakenly thought I had previously met him at a writers' conference. It turned out I had met someone else at his publication. This editor has not taught at writers’ conferences nor ever done a teleseminar--yet he is the main person who edits and selects the articles for his publication. I asked him to participate and he's agreed to participate. What initially looked like a difficulty became something even better.

And the first editor has agreed to participate in another session which I will give next month. Instead of no editors, I'm going to have two different editors give their information to writers who want to break into writing for the Christian magazine market.

If you can't participate in the live event, I hope you will register--so you can get the link to the replay.

My lesson for you is not to give up when something goes another direction than you first planned it. Look for a way to use the resources that you have to make something even better happen from it. That persistence will pay off in the long run.