This line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet first squirreled its way into my brain in 10th grade English class.
But why does it take so long to learn it? And what does it really mean?
The full quote is:
“To thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
For me, it goes way beyond the “be yourself,” “be authentic” advice.
For me, it’s about following my passion. About doing the thing in life my heart is telling me to do, regardless of whether the world sees my work as a commercial success. It’s about not sitting in an assisted living center wondering what would have happened if I had written that book that was my life’s dream.
Your heart will tell you if you just listen
This week, I had an interesting conversation with someone in the book publishing industry. This person told me that I shouldn’t write a memoir. That it won’t sell because I am not a celebrity. That I should consider writing it in some other format.
And I knew in my gut that this person was wrong. That I had to do this.
“There are people out there who tell you you can’t. What you’ve got to do is turn around and say, ‘Watch me.’”
To the kiddos in my elementary school classroom, I used to say, “Do the thing you didn’t think you could do” and “Figure out your own way to show me what you have learned.” That philosophy spilled over into every part of the classroom. For a social studies project, one student wrote a rap song, another created a short play with historical figures as the main characters. Someone else used mixed media to make a visual arts exhibit.
They did it their way.
Before you say, “But I’m not especially fond of primates,” hang on. APE stands for Author-Publisher-Entrepreneur. And I am going out on a limb here when I say that this is one of the most honest, least hypey, overall best books I have read on self-publishing in a long time.
Note: My deepest apologies if you are a subscriber who got this post in your feed before it was finished. I’m working with a new theme and must have pressed the wrong button! Here is the real, complete version.
Last weekend I hit the road—and the water—for the Whidbey Island Writer’s Conference. I have been to a bazillion conferences in my day: they were events for teachers, or direct mail copywriters, or bloggers or marketers, depending on what field I was in at the moment.
agent’s view of things with practical publishing ideas in the digital age. Really, it’s the best of both worlds.
I hope you are finding time to refresh and rejuvenate this week between Christmas and New Year’s. I’ve been reading a lot, since Bob, Mr. WordPress, gave me the best Christmas present ever. It was better than the warm, fuzzy socks. Better even than the foaming bath oil and scented candle from L’Occitane.
Last year about this time (okay, it was in December), I made a public decision. I announced it over at my other blogging home, For Bloggers, By Bloggers.
Many of you who hang around here are published authors. Some of you are writers with a book in the works—or on your to-do list. And even if you don’t have plans to write a book, you probably know writers in your family or social networking circles.
If you don’t tell stories, and never ever plan to, you might want to skip this post.
It’s said that 80% of people want to write a book, but very few of these actually achieve that goal. As a small business owner, your time is precious but producing a book is definitely worthwhile and there are ways to speed up the process.
Joanna Penn is the author of 
