The Dead Zone, Authors, and Fitness

Before any accomplishment, notoriety, or launch is a 'Dead Zone' - effort is extremely high and results are non existence.

In the Wall Street Journal article, I read about a first time published author named Chelsea Banning. She put on her first book signing at a local bookstore in Ohio and 2 people showed up over a 3 hour period. She tweeted her disappointment and the tweet caught the attention of some well known authors who had this to retweet:

Henry Winkler (The Fonz): "That is the beginning"

Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Diaz, who had one person attend her first: "I did a reading for my friend and the embarrassed booksellers..."

Jodi PIcoult, who sold millions of books, had a total of zero show up to her first signing.

All these authors had to endure the 'Dead Zone' - where they had put in a ton of work, probably years, for no pay and no recognition. And, they had to endure the rejection of nobody giving a shit about their work. Yet, they kept going after their poor author signing turn outs.

NOBODY is immune to the 'Dead Zone'; there is not short cut, no side stepping it, and not way to quickly move through it. This period of time is a test of your reasons, to see if they are deep enough to keep going when there is no immediate reward.

To awaken your Inner Athlete, you must travel through the foundation of fitness, which can be a bit drudgery. Show up and sweat when it feels like you are getting nowhere. You are simply conditioning your body so you can go after, or access, your Inner Athlete to create an inspired state of mind.

I wonder if the authors knew that they would sacrifice an entire year agonizing over writing a book only to have nobody care, would they still do it?

If you want to access your Inner Athlete, you better know two things before beginning:

1. The 'Dead Zone' is coming

2. You better have your 'REASONS' figured out to get your through it. The authors did and that is why we are reading about them.