Labels

This past weekend I attended a writer's conference, the 2012 American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in Dallas, Texas (www.acfw.com) and as always, it was fabulous. I took away a lot of info this year related to craft, and more importantly, related to my heart.

One of those nuggets of truth I'd like to tell you today.

Fellow author and teacher JIM RUBART (he writes fabulous books, ya'll) said during one class I attended "You can't see the label from inside the bottle." He was speaking partly in regards to our writing careers as authors - meaning it's hard to see how we are being perceived, how we appear to others, our label, our brand in our career, what we represent, etc. But he also meant in regards to our heart. And that applies to you too, author or not.

It's hard to see ourselves from inside us. After all, we all live internally. Only we hear the echoes of our hearts, only we hear the thoughts in our heads. These echoes and thoughts are what develop us and shape us and give people the outside persona.

What does your label say?

Your label, in my opinion, is how you dress, how you speak, how you act, how you react, etc. So what does your wardrobe say about you? What does your reaction to a traffic jam say about you? What does a bad grade on a paper say about you?

More importantly - What do you WANT it to say?

Think about today, as you go about school or work or other hobbies/chores. What is your outside label reading, and does it match what you want others to read about you?