Today, Kristina Rienzi , author of the new adult Sic-Fi Thriller, Among Us, discusses how you (writer) can choose success.
Read more about her plan, advice, and learn about her audiobook, Among Us.
Guest Post – Choosing Success with Kristina Rienzi
Being an author isn’t like working in corporate America. There’s no strategic ladder to climb. No top box on an organization chart pointing to the head honcho. No President. CEO. Big Kahuna. No universal achievement to strive for in our world. Our performance reviews are book reviews. Our increases are more books sold. Our bonuses are new contracts. While corporate America is (supposed to be) objective, the creative domain is (by its nature) subjective.
It’s a different world for authors. Our gauge for success is a moving target. It’s not only individualized, but it’s ever-changing.
So how will you know when you’re a successful author? Is it after you’ve finished your first manuscript? Published a book? Landed an agent?
The answers are the same and, unbelievably, simple.
SUCCESS IS A CHOICE.
You don’t have to wait for success to happen to you. You can choose success for yourself, at any time. You’re the CEO of your life. Writing life is no different. I promise, whether you realize it or not, you know exactly how to make it happen.
Success is a feeling you define and then you choose. If it’s so simple, why aren’t you there yet?
Success is a Choice
Before you can choose to feel successful, you need to define what success means to you. What’s YOUR definition of success? I posed a few questions above, but I want you to consider the following.
- 1. What does success mean to you?
- 2. What must you accomplish to be successful?
- 3. When you’re successful, how will you FEEL?
The last question is the key. Be there, like when you’re writing your stories. Feel the feelings. Visualize your life. Once you know what success means to you, you can choose those feelings of success NOW.
For example, my definition of success is finishing a manuscript. Even with 7 under my belt, and a Beyond Big Dream (BBD—you’ll learn about this soon) of having one of my books become a movie, my measure of success…when I feel most like a successful author…is when I type the words, THE END.
That’s it. That’s enough for me. That’s the goal I chase book after book leading me to my BBD. So to get to THE END, I feel what it feels like to type those words every time I sit at my computer, while I’m still writing the story. I remember how it feels to have a book in my hand. A shiny new story, finished. With my name on the cover. Sweet success! That’s what keeps me going word after work, page after page, book after book.
If you can clearly define what success looks like for you, and imagine what it feels like as if you already have achieved it, then you’re halfway there.
Plan to Fail
However, to choose success, you can’t just define it. You must take action and plan.
Plan to fail, that is.
If planning to fail on your road to success seems counterintuitive, it’s not. Just like a marathon runner training to cross the 26.2-mile finish line, knowing it won’t take merely a day or even a week, you will train for your success. Like the characters in your stories, you will be faced with obstacles that will knock you down and beg (and plead!) for you to give up your dreams.
It’s up to you to decide how you will react. In our stories, our characters must persevere through all kinds of wacky obstacles with the ultimate goal of growing into a different version of ourselves. That’s story, after all…the caterpillar to butterfly transformation.
The same applies to our life story. Facing adversity and experiencing failure is a part of life, albeit an uncomfortable one. Through that discomfort, we get clarity on what’s important to us, and we grow. Upturns in life reinforce what we’ve done right. However, we learn from downturns. The paths that haven’t worked out have taught us lessons, and we grow with each of our failures.
We get better. Stronger. We persevere.
Aside from just defining success, and knowing how you will feel, you must be willing to go forth toward your dreams with passion and perseverance, through the failures.
In other words, NEVER GIVE UP.
Dream Big, Think Small
Now that you know what you want, you’ve imagined what it will feel like as if it’s already happened, and you’ve decided you’ll do whatever it takes to achieve it, what’s next?
Your marathon, my friend. Big dreams. Small goals. That’s how we cross our finish line.
First, you must dream as big as you possibly can. What would need to happen in your author life to seriously blow your mind? Is it your book becoming a movie? A zillion sales? A Pulitzer Prize? Again, you get to decide and choose what success means to you here.
This is your Beyond Big Dream (BBD).
Next, to get closer to your dream, it’s like anything else; you take one step at a time.
Let’s break down one of my BBD’s as an example.
As I said, I’d love it if one of my books became a movie someday. It feels light-years, too many mini-goals, and magical spells away to ever happen. It’s also overwhelming. It feels impossible. Quite honestly, it’s easy to walk away from such a big dream, because it seems so unachievable.
It’s not.
If that’s what I want, I need to think small. I must take my BBD and break it down into achievable goals. I may not know what needs to happen for my book to become a movie, but I can start from the beginning and let each step create the next.
Logically, for my book to become a movie, I need a book! That’s easy, right? It means I have to write the book first.
Great! I have my BBD. Book turned into a movie. I’m done, right? NOPE. I need to break my BBD down into super small goals. Specifically, I need to define what I can do TODAY to get me closer to my goal.
To write a book, I need a story idea. Not just any idea, but one that’s movie-worthy. I’ll have to do some research on what thriller books have been turned into movies.
This will help me decide what kind of story I want to write. Once I have a story idea, I’ll go from there. Possibly my next step will be defining the initial story premise. At some point my goal will be to start writing this book, and so forth.
The good news is that you don’t need to know all the steps to your BBD today. Simply define your BBD and think small: break it down into the smallest step you can take today, this week, this month…whatever timeframe makes sense for you.
Then commit to coming up with another step once that one is achieved. Eventually, you will get so close to your BBD that it won’t seem so unachievable after all!
Who knows, your BBD may change along the way as you evolve. That’s okay! Be open to going in whatever direction pulls you and redefining your success as you see fit. There’s no right or wrong here. Whatever you decide is always right for YOU.
When you give yourself permission to define and choose to feel successful, you’re no longer at the mercy of the outside world to validate it for you. You will be empowered and on your way to getting everything you ever wanted.
The Fun Part
When you get exactly what you want, what’s next? You celebrate, of course!
Celebrate big…for the little achievements and for the significant ones.
Celebrate it all.
It’s easy to brush over a small success and focus on the next goal or become paralyzed by the BBD. That’s not going to motivate you to do what needs to be done to make that BBD happen. Dreams take TONS of work. The work isn’t pretty.
Sometimes it’s downright dreadful.
Nevertheless, the work must be done. Focusing only on the end goal is a mistake many of us make because when it doesn’t happen on our timeline, we throw in the towel. To make it all the way to the end, where your BBD is within reach, you need to be excited and motivated at every step along the way.
So, trust me. When you meet your small goal, celebrate. You’ll be surprised at how much it helps.
Practical Steps to Choosing Success
- 1. Define what success means to you. Practice feeling successful NOW.
- 2. Plan to Fail. Choose to persevere and grow. NEVER GIVE UP.
- 3. Identify your Beyond Big Dream (BBD). BELIEVE it’s possible.
- 4. Plan Small. Pick one thing you can do TODAY to support your BBD.
- 5. Celebrate!
- 6. Repeat Steps 1-5 OFTEN ☺
Like I said at the start of my (hopefully inspirational) post, success is individualized and ever-changing. Don’t be afraid to shift and change where you’re headed as you grow and as opportunities (some you never expected) arise.
Know that your dreams, no matter how wild, ARE possible. And the only person who has the power to make them happen is YOU!
Bottom Line
You have the power to CHOOSE SUCCESS by feeling successful NOW.
So, what are you waiting for?
~Kristina
Among Us – Synopsis
Check out Kristina’s debut audiobook, AMONG US. This new-adult sci-fi thriller was chosen as an April 2019 Audible Editors Select Pick and featured on Audible’s ACX University 2018 webcast series.
Danger lurks in the unknown…
Marci Simon lives a double life: conservative professor of English by day, and controversial blogger of aliens by night. But when a classified document lands in her lap, her two worlds collide in an explosive revelation of shocking and deadly secrets.
Despite imminent danger at every twist, Marci embarks on an unstoppable quest to expose the terrifying truth. Only she never anticipated the entangled nebula of dark lies, nor the neverending wormhole the government would spiral through to silence her forever.
Knowledge can kill.
And Marci knows too much. With global security at risk, no one can be trusted. To debunk the stratosphere of deceit, Marci races at the speed of light to escape the grips of the clandestine Extraterrestrial Security Agency (ESA) hunting her before she vanishes like all the others. But Marci is unique. Despite being the ESA’s prime target, she’s also the skeleton key to the deadliest truth in the history of the universe.
The nightmare is real, and it’s only just begun. Marci must take a nefarious leap of faith before her options, and her breaths, evaporate into a black hole for all eternity.
“It pulled me in and kept me on the edge of my seat until the final word.” ~Chad, Audible Listener
About the Author: Kristina Rienzi
Kristina Rienzi is a Jersey Shore-based new adult thriller author, certified professional coach, and the former president of Sisters in Crime-Central Jersey. An INFJ who dreams beyond big, Kristina encourages others (and herself) to embrace the unknown through her stories.
When she’s not writing or drinking wine, Kristina is spoiling her baby girl (and two fur-babies), dissecting true crime stories, singing (and dancing) to Yacht Rock Radio, or rooting for the WVU Mountaineers.
She believes in all things paranormal, a closet full of designer bags, weekly manicures, the Law of Attraction, aliens, angels, and the value of a graduate degree in psychology. Her debut audiobook, Among Us was featured on Audible’s ACX University and is an Audible Editors Select pick. Visit Kristina at https://KristinaRienzi.com or on social media.
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