Four Lessons for Success in Writing and Life By Alexis Marie Chute
Alexis Marie Chute is an award-winning author, artist, filmmaker, curator, and inspirational speaker. She is the author of the memoir, Expecting Sunshine: A Journey of Grief, Healing, and Pregnancy After Loss, and the award-winning YA fantasy series, The 8th Island Trilogy. More at https://www.alexismariechute.com/
I’m [am] just finishing writing my fourth book. That sounds crazy to my younger self who dreamed of becoming a novelist. I have learned so much through writing Expecting Sunshine and The 8th Island Trilogy.
Here’s the low down:
You have to want it bad.
No one writes a book because they have nothing better to do. Things will always—always—get in the way of your writing. Procrastination. Having a baby. Moving houses. The day job. Hanging out with friends. Doing the laundry. Sleeping… Writing is hard and the discipline it takes to finish what you start is legit work. I’ve learned that there are hundreds of excuses not to write, but my desire to author books keeps me going. It is one of my true loves. You make time for who and what you love. I want it badly enough, because stories fulfilled me in ways nothing else does, so I prioritize my writing over many other things.
Remove fear through action.
I achieve much in my life by chugging ahead with boldness. Sometimes that gets me into trouble—like the time I decided to film myself writing book two in The 8th Island Trilogy before I realized how much time it would take to edit and publish a new YouTube video EVERY DAY for 90 DAYS!
At the same time, when I jump into endeavors with both feet, even if I fail, I don’t give myself a chance to wallow in fear and the blasted what if’s. “What if this doesn’t work?” “What if I’m not talented enough?” “What if I get writer’s block?” “What if my story sucks?” No! Stop your negative internal monologue. Decide what you are going to do, then get started. You prove all your worries wrong by your actions. I remember feeling scared to finish writing a book. The “work in progress” banner was a comfort zone. Fuck that. I pressed on and when I wrote the last words of that book, I had goosebumps. It was amazing! I celebrated for days, and now I know I can do it, so I continue to act boldly. Again and again.
Rejection makes you stronger.
I once cried when receiving rejection letters. For a long time, it seemed that every publication and competition where I submitted my writing would invariably mail or email the cookie cutter rejection letter. “We’ve received so many submissions… So much great work… Try again next time… Blah, blah, blah.” I once kept track of these rejections—and for a while they all stung. It wasn’t until I received my fiftieth—50!—rejection letter that I no longer felt the sting. I learned valuable lessons through all those applications. Now, I eat rejection letters for lunch. They don’t bother me.
Attitude is everything.
After all those rejection letters, I developed the attitude that said, “You don’t think I can do it? WATCH ME.” Yes, that requires all caps, bold, italics, and underline. It was a big shift but one that empowered me to take my fate into my own hands. I wrote. Edited. Pitched. Published. Learned marketing. And, I do it all over and over again. Not because someone has told me I’m good enough. I believe I am good enough, that my stories matter, that they will make a difference. I make my own luck.
About the Books
8TH ISLAND TRILOGY (YA) Above the Star
Synopsis
When Archie goes in search of his missing son, Arden, in the Spanish Canary Islands, he stumbles upon a higher mission: to save his ailing fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Ella. Using a portal-jumping device called the Tillastrion, Archie and a strange creature, a Bangol named Zeno, are transported—along with a cruise ship full of people, including Ella and her mother, Tessa—to a magnificent yet terrifying island in another realm, a place called Jarr-Wya, where Archie hopes to locate Ella’s cure. An epic adventure of three unlikely heroes, Above the Star reminds us that no matter how young, or how old, our bravery transforms not only our lives but the world around us.
Purchase on Amazon.
Below the Moon
Synopsis
Ella Wellsley is not your typical teenager. Cancer left her mute, but not powerless. Trapped in a parallel dimension, Ella rallies her strength to join her family—her mother, Tessa, her grandpa Archie, and her magical boyfriend—in locating the cure to her illness. This cure is entangled in the fate of all worlds, and threatened by the presence of an evil Star anchored in the sea. The Star has thrown life everywhere into chaos—and it is Ella who holds the key to unlocking its mystery. Caught in a web of betrayal, mistaken identities, secrets, and love triangles, Ella, Tessa, and Archie must overcome their troubled pasts to ensure a future for all worlds. On this journey—armed with unearthly abilities and unexpected allies—each member of the Wellsley family will learn the power of love in the face of their greatest fears.
Purchase on Amazon.
Inside the Sun coming April 2020
Synopsis
The exciting finale to The 8th Island Trilogy, Inside the Sun holds readers breathless as the fate of all worlds is held in a delicate balance between life and total obliteration. At the heart of the story is the Wellsley family—Tessa, Ella, and Archie—who learn bravery despite where they come from, how old they are, and the burdens they bear. When all seems lost, the Wellsleys join with a scrupulous company of magical beings from the island of Jarr-Wya to set things right. The Star may have come to help, but the mystery only deepens and sacrifice is required to save the day.
Purchase on Amazon.
EXPECTING SUNSHINE: A Journey of Grief, Healing, and Pregnancy After Loss
Synopsis
After her son, Zachary, dies in her arms at birth, visual artist and author Alexis Marie Chute disappears into her “Year of Distraction.” She cannot paint or write or tap into the heart of who she used to be—too caught up in mourning not only for Zachary but also for the future they might have had together. It is only when Chute learns she is pregnant again that she sets out to find healing and rediscover her identity—just in time, she hopes, to welcome her next child.
In the forty weeks of her pregnancy, Chute grapples with her strained marriage, shaken faith, and medical diagnosis, with profound results. Glowing with riveting and gorgeous prose, Expecting Sunshine chronicles the anticipation and anxiety of expecting a baby while still grieving for the child that came before—enveloping readers with insightful observations on grief and healing, life and death, and the incredible power of a mother’s love.
Purchase on Amazon.
More about Alexis Marie Chute
Alexis Marie Chute is an award-winning author, artist, filmmaker, curator, and inspirational speaker. She is the author of the epic fantasy adventure series called The 8th Island Trilogy. Above the Star, book one, was released in 2018, featuring multigenerational and diverse characters. Books two and three—Below the Moon and Inside the Sun—will hit bookshelves in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Her memoir, Expecting Sunshine: A Journey of Grief, Healing, and Pregnancy After Loss, was a Kirkus Best Book of 2017 and received many literary awards. Expecting Sunshine is also a highly acclaimed feature documentary film, produced and directed by the author, that was screened around the world in 2018 and 2019.
Chute holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Design and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She is an internationally exhibited painter and photographer, art curator, and a widely published writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Chute’s writing has been published in TIME Motto, Scary Mommy, Womanista, Today’s Parent, PhotoEd Magazine, WestWord Magazine, Vie, Edmonton Woman Magazine, Flurt Magazine, Mind Body Green, The Good Men Project, Still Standing Magazine, The Huffington Post, Smart Healthy Woman, and many others.
She is a highly-regarded inspirational speaker and teacher. She has presented on business, art, photography, writing, filmmaking, bereavement, and the healing capacities of creativity around the world.
When not in her art-photography-film studio, writing at her computer, or on a leg of her international tour, Chute loves to spend quality time with her family, read both fiction and memoirs, watch reality TV, paddleboard, and canoe. She is not a winter person but lives in the frosty city of Edmonton with her husband and their living children. More about Alexis at www.AlexisMarieChute.com
