Staying Found when you Feel Lost

​My newest book Lost. Found was released last week. It was the first time I’ve had a publishing house truly assist with PR, coordinating a blog tour and gently pushing me to be more active on Twitter. I was interviewed and wrote blogs for some of the finest educators around, and I had a great time. Lost. Found. is a Junior Library Guild selection and it’s received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and School Library Journal.  You’d think I’d feel confident. You’d think I’d be looking forward to selling one, two, or more new manuscripts very soon. That’s not the case. Instead, I feel anxious, worried, and doubtful. We writers stare at a blank page, alone, when we begin work every day. Often, we feel like the red scarf in Lost. Found. – abandoned and forgotten.

​Lost Found is a story of only eighteen words, two words repeated. It’s about...well, being lost and found again. Like many, I sometimes feel lost, both personally and professionally. There were seven long years between my last book and the offer on Lost. Found. I could say that it was a drought for many writers. I could blame it on the changes happening in politics, culture, and publishing, causing a maelstrom for many. But the truth is I was too often afraid...afraid to approach my desk, afraid my writing career was over, afraid to hear that troubling phrase, “You’re not good enough.”
 
When I visit schools I talk a good game. I talk with the students about the perseverance of Joshua Summerhayes in The Pumpkin Runner. We explore the big dreams of Little Four in Heart of a Tiger. I share a three-by-four-foot board covered with lots of big no’s, with one tiny yes in the middle.  “It only takes one yes to be on the way to where you want to be,” I tell the expectant faces. I want my young readers to be strong, to stay determined, to believe in themselves. Oh, yes, I talk a good game, but in truth, I often don’t play a good game.

It’s not uncommon for even best-selling authors or the highest award- winners to doubt themselves. Is there anyway to overcome this writer’s malaise - our anxiety, our self-doubt?
 
It turns out that the lessons I share with young readers from my books are actually very useful in helping us stay calm and content on our writers’ journey. Run all your races with joy, like Joshua. Or we might say, write all your stories with joy. Follow your dream like Little Four. Even though you’ll never be a Bengal Tiger; you can still be a wise, powerful kitten. Or like Little Skunk in The Tail of Little Skunk, be true to yourself and your nature and you’ll know just what to do. Whether you feel you’re on top of the world or on the bottom, you can still be happy on your journey, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It doesn’t mean we don’t lose ourselves sometimes. The positive part is that we can always find ourselves again. Getting lost and then finding ourselves is part of how we learn.
 
What doesn’t help us? Comparing ourselves to others, always. Judging – others and ourselves.
 
What helps us? Remembering we are writing our story, no one else’s, personally and professionally. 

​I remember supporting my friend, the amazing Teri Sloat, while she was writing her book, I’m A Duck. I always adored this story, but as I recall, Teri had doubts about it even though Duck is an exuberantly happy and positive character, constantly celebrating life and himself. 

​Duck revels in life. “By some magnificent stroke of good luck, I’m a duck!”...”It gives me a thrill when I open my bill and I QUACK!”...”And wings – I’ve got wings! Just think, I grew both of these things!” How can we not love Duck?
 
Duck is a creature on a wondrous planet, spinning through space. He was meant to be here and do his thing! So are you. So am I.
 
As Glinda the Good Witch tells Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of Oz, “You’ve always had the power to go back to Kansas.” Dorothy was never really lost. She could always find herself, if she really wanted to. So if you’re feeling lost, go find yourself, right now. Nothing was ever lost, that can’t be found.

Marsha Diane Arnold is the award-winning author of twelve books. She enjoys traveling the country visiting schools to share her love of writing and books, as well as doing manuscript consultations from her home base in Florida. She's feeling a little lost right now, but she's sure she'll find herself again real soon. www.marshadianearnold.com