This personal quote of mines I recently made up, there are so many things that I want to say about this.
I’m not a religious person; I’m agnostic, meaning that I have doubts of any beings’ existences, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t believe in the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Heavenly Virtues.
Pride is the Sin I think about. Humility is the Virtue I also think about.
When I first started writing, Pride got the best of me. I was so grandiose about my newly founded career, despite that it was only the very beginning. I didn’t make it to the bestsellers list when I first published my debut novel, No Turning Back. After the disappointment of my book not making it that big instantaneously, Wrath suddenly came to me. I ended up manic, up to the point when something that is beyond words happened to me that time.
Suddenly, I let my grandiosity get the best of me when I ended up writing and publishing more books in the shortest amount of time than I thought. That was when I realized my mistake.
My published books were full of rushed details and a myriad of spelling errors and typos as I looked back at them. After I received constructive criticism from experts, I decided to do a lot of alterations with my books.
I removed most of my horrible books off the Amazon stock, including No Turning Back along with my other two published novels. Besides my novels, I decided to permanently delete the rest. I then revised all my novels from the start. The timing was painstaking, albeit it was worth it for the sake of my writing reputation. I wanted my novels to be the best there is. To me, my novels must be one of a kind and the consistency within them must be precise.
By the time I revised all three of my novels that time, I republished them back on Amazon. I then became more confident about them.
That was when something altered.
My Wrath swiftly turned to Patience. Patience became the Virtue that I chose to rely and heavily focus on.
I waited every day, in hope that I would make sales on my novels. Fearing for the upcoming Wrath, I forced myself to only check in the statuses every once in a while; checking it frequently every day will just make my Wrath come again, so I limited my time from it. In the meantime, Patience made me pass the time as I waited to write my next novel, Don’t Stay. This time, while I was writing Don’t Stay, Patience made me take my time by being as meticulous as I can while writing the first draft, then editing, and, finally, publishing the final draft by the time I was happy with the results. I didn’t rush, I didn’t pressure myself, and I let Patience do its job. I became ecstatic about it.
After publishing Don’t Stay, something happened.
I received more sales on this novel, as well as my previous three.
I knew all along that Patience is worth it.
Pride still interfered with me pertaining to the results. I suddenly became more grandiose than I thought.
However, Pride altered to Humility when I experienced something on social media.
My classmates from my college inexplicably found out about me becoming a successful published author. I received a myriad of praise and attention from my classmates, whom I hardly knew and never befriended with back in my college years, on X, Instagram, and even Facebook. All those constant praise and attention from semi-strangers from my past suddenly became very overwhelming for me. I developed this irrational feeling of being unable to handle all that praise and attention at once, coming from someone who has been an introvert since infancy. I came into realization that I personally do not like this feeling.
Due to this unwanted incident, I automatically turned my Pride into Humility. I then noticed how Pride is considered as a Sin; it brings overwhelmingness and, not to mention, Envy to other individuals. I never wanted any of that.
Therefore, this became the reason why I chose to be demure about my successful writing career. Humility made me transform myself by not living vicariously through fame. It turned out that fame is not what I wanted at all. I then made the decision to allow myself to simply be notable in the most modest way, just enough to be noticed out there, albeit still remained reclusive. I never wanted any attention, it’s just not for me due to being an introvert.
Ever since my previous novels and other miscellaneous books became bestsellers, I controlled myself into professionalism. Grandiosity is the last thing I want starting from there. It’s truly best to be demure in the best way I can be.
As aforementioned, both Patience and Humility made me the successful author I am today. Henceforth, the story behind this quote I created.
Now, I hope that this quote of mines will influence other aspiring authors out there to do the same.
Demure is the key to success, not grandiosity.