Naima B. Robert – Learn How to Write a Children’s Book Na’ima B. Robert Networking!

It's your sister Naima B. Robert here. And

today I'm going to be talking about the

importance

of networks for you as a children's author.

A lot of writing

can be lonely,

can be isolating.

If you're the only one in your family

who has a dream of writing a book,

if none of your friends have ever written

a book or wanted to write a book,

if you don't know anyone who's written a

book or wants to write a book,

it can be pretty lonely.

And the worst part about being alone on

this journey is

the doubts that creep in,

the fear that comes up, Those times when

you feel like giving up, when you feel

like,

I can never do this. You know, why

did I even start in the 1st place?

Who do I think I am? You know,

what makes me think that I can do

x, y or z?

So this video

is really

a reminder about the importance

of companions

on the journey.

There are so many different ways for you

to

link with and network with other sisters

who have the same dream as you,

other women who are doing what you are

doing.

And

because the writing journey can be so lonely,

because, you know, it can feel so isolating

to have a dream that no one really

understands and nobody else has,

I want to urge you

to find your people.

Find companions on the journey.

If you're writing

for children, connect with other children's authors. If

you're on social media, especially Instagram,

connect with other children's authors on Instagram.

Follow their work,

support them, buy their books.

Trust me, in this community,

reciprocity

is so important.

It's reciprocal.

When you start to build networks,

you are able to support others and then

they in turn can support you. But as

you

build

your relationships

with other authors who are doing the same

thing as you, expand that.

Follow the publishers that you're interested in. Follow

the editors.

Sign up for the summits. Sign up for

the conferences.

Put your hand up to read your book

at your local school.

Meet librarians.

Go and give writing classes if you feel

confident enough.

All of these

build your network

and also solidify you in your confidence that,

yes, you can do this.

What I've found over the years, mashAllah, is

one of the things that sisters love the

most

is having other sisters on the journey with

them to celebrate with them, to commiserate with

them, to support them when they have questions.

And I've seen in my own programs,

you know, some sisters who they they've they've

worked together to put their launches together to

make them successful.

You know, they've mentored each other. They've coached

each other. One of them will have self

published and the other one is just starting

on that journey, and she will be helping

her to get her to the place where

she needs to be.

A lot of

people think that they don't have enough experience,

enough knowledge

to help others, to coach others, to mentor

others.

But as I said in a recent in

a recent summit when I was speaking with

some of my my graduating clients,

was that remember that you are always

5, 10, 50, 100

steps

ahead of someone else.

You, you, you, whoever you are,

you are definitely going to be 5, 10,

50, 100 steps

ahead of someone else.

So never think that you don't have anything

to offer or that you haven't learned enough

to be able to help somebody else,

that you don't have any value to anyone

else, you can't mentor, you can't coach, you

couldn't train, you couldn't do a talk, you

couldn't do a workshop. That's nonsense.

It's just the fear talking

and the self doubt coming back up again.

If you put in the time

and the effort and the investment

to better yourself as an author,

if you're writing,

if you're editing, if you're pitching your work,

you will see your outcome, insha'Allah.

The only way that failure is guaranteed is

if you give up.

I wanna tell you a story of one

of my clients, one of my favorite clients,

We've been working together for several years, and

this sister had a dream of being published

by a traditional publisher.

And she held onto that dream, and she

she wouldn't accept anything else. Even though we

said to her, you know, there are Muslim

publishers, there are Islamic publishers, you know, you

could self publish this a really good story.

And she would nod and say, yes, yes,

yes, I know, but I want to be

published by a traditional

publisher. So we helped her write and edit

and pitch. Write, edit, pitch. She did that

for years.

And here's what happened.

1st,

she didn't hear anything back from anyone.

Radio silence.

Then she started to get rejections.

I said to her, this is good. At

least they're responding to you, mashallah.

Then she would get rejections and she'd also

get

letters back saying,

it's not for us, but keep writing.

Then she started to receive messages that

this is really a good story. What it

needs is this and that and that. Can

you see if you can make that work

and then send it back to us?

And then she started getting people saying,

you know, we want to see maybe this

is not for us, but send us something

else. And eventually,

she got not just 1, but 2 and

3 publishers who said, this is perfect for

us.

Let's go. We're going to take it to

the meeting. We want to sign you.

And I remember

she she had a call with me and

she said I feel so disheartened.

I've tried for so long and I've tried

with so many publishers, and I just keep

getting all these different things that I mentioned

to you. And I said to her, can

you see how there are levels to this?

When you first started out, you weren't getting

anything back. Back. Then you started getting rejections.

Then you started getting

kind rejections but with suggestions.

All of these are building up to something.

Don't

give up.

If you keep going,

you will see your outcome be idhnillah.

And I'm happy to say

that she did see her outcome. She got

3 books published, one with an Islamic publisher,

another with a very well respected Canadian publisher,

masha'Allah.

And, you know, she's on her next book.

She's still pitching. She's still out there. But

my point is

this, find companions on the journey because you

need to hear stories like this. You need

to see sisters winning.

You also need to see sisters trying.

And when they fail, getting back up again

and going for it again so that you,

Insha'Allah, can be

heartened

and inspired and motivated to keep going too,

Insha'Allah.

Like I said, we've seen it happen once,

twice, 10 times, 20 times, more.

Those sisters are no different from you.

The difference is that they showed up for

their dream.

They wrote, they edited,

they pitched, and they didn't stop until they

got their outcome.

So my question to

you, what's holding you back?

Consider this your

public service announcement

and your

wake up call from me.

I pray pray that this series has been

beneficial for you. I hope that you took

action

and I hope that you have something to

show for it.

And if you'd like more help, if you

would like more training, if you feel that

you want to understand more about children's books,

if you want to work on solid pieces

and you dream

of getting your book published,

I'd love to help you.

As I said, we've done it before. We

are currently doing it. And insha'Allah ta'ala, we

will continue to do it. And we'd love

for you to be one of those sisters

that works with us. So simply go to

my website, naimarobert.com/services.

Before you send in an application,

just scroll down the page

and look at all the other sisters on

there. No different from you, except that they

were determined and they invested

time, effort and resources. And by Allah's grace,

they got their outcome. And Insha'Allah, you will

too.

Thanks so much for rocking with me. I

pray this series has been beneficial for you.

And I hope to see you all

on that list of 222

Muslim

authors by the end of the year, Insha'Allah.

It's your sister, Naima b Robert,

signing out from the Writing for Children's series.