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