On Monday, we told you about some of the folks who will be teaching you about all
the exciting new 21st century publishing technologies that will allow you make a
worldwide impact and build a thriving writing career. In case you missed that, here it is:

http://cbiclubhouse.com/our-vision-for-2014-part-1-a-new-breed-of-experts-just-for-you/

Yesterday, we revealed the three fantastic nonprofits we'll all be partnering
with to promote global literacy and childhood education.  Here's that link:

http://cbiclubhouse.com/our-vision-for-2014-part-2/

Today, let's talk about our vision for you — how we'll help you build
confidence, overcome obstacles and find real meaning in your work.

In 2014, we're committing to helping you in truly meaningful ways. 

For decades, writing instruction (including most of ours) has been pretty much this:

Here's how to write a book.  Here's how to get it published.

Only by stepping back, did we truly realize that there's so much more to it than
that.

It's about getting over fear of failure.  It's about developing the confidence
to step into the unfamiliar.  It's about the need for connection, for support,
for meaning.  It's about your personal journey that ultimately leads to making a
real impact on the world, and on the children who need you right now.

With the help of our Journey Coach Andrea Woolf, we will be talking abut all of
these moving forward, and we will give you the tools you need to do more than
just publish a book or an app — we will help you overcome the obstacles that
may seem to be standing in your way, and we will, together, embark on a journey
that will make us all stronger, more confident and more engaged human beings.

We will make your personal journey our foremost concern.

Do you want to know the truth about being a writer?

Getting published may be a highlight of the journey, but it's the journey
itself that's most important.

Every step you take, no matter how small, is a step toward a better you and a
better world.  For example, simply by having joined CBI, you took a really
important and really brave step.  You parted with a  few of your hard-earned
dollars (or pounds, or Euros, or…) and took a leap into an unknown world.  And
you trusted us to guide you.

And, dang it, we should have done a better job of acknowledging that, of
celebrating that, of recognizing how important that is.

So, better late than never, here goes:

We celebrate you, !  You've taken a step only a small percentage of would-be authors
have ever taken.  Trust us, it speaks volumes about you and your willingness to
take action.  And it's the first sign that you will, in fact, succeed in
impacting the lives of children around the world.

We will celebrate every step you take on your personal journey.

There's a sports term that I like to use when I talk about projects.  It's
"moving the ball forward".  It doesn't mean I've scored a goal or a touchdown
today, it just means I moved the ball ahead of where it was yesterday.

So please take this in, because it's as important a piece of advice we can give
you:

Just focus on moving the ball forward.  And, every time you do, take time to
celebrate.

Managed to rearrange your schedule so you can write for an hour each night?
Celebrate!  Got over your nerves and spoke with that published author at a
conference?  Celebrate!  Spent a couple of hours at the Clubhouse to catch up on
how to write great dialog?  Celebrate!

These small victories are what it's all about, really.  Because, with each one,
your confidence grows, and your potential to impact the children of the world
grows, too.

Now, let's start the action-taking with this:

We've set up a special e-mail address — celebrate@cbiclubhouse.com — that I
want you to get in the habit of using.  It serves one purpose:  whenever you
"move the ball forward", drop us an e-mail.  If you get an article or book
published — awesome!  E-mail us.  But also e-mail us if you completed that
tricky chapter that's been causing you to get stuck.  E-mail us if you've found
a great writer's group to join.  E-mail us if you've got your Facebook fan page
set up, or started a blog, or made a cool video and uploaded it to Youtube.

In short, if you've taken a step on your journey, we want to hear about it.
Because it's the small steps that really count.

With every step you take, your confidence grows, and your ability to impact the
world  grows as well.  And that's a cause for celebration.

Now, I can't guarantee that we can respond personally to every e-mail, as we're
burning the midnight oil to get all this new stuff done.  But I can tell you
that we'll read each message and we'll do our best to celebrate everyone's
accomplishments, on the site or via e-mails to all the Fightin'
Bookworms.

We're really, really looking forward to reading your messages and taking time
each day to see how your journey is coming along!

Again, the e-mail address is celebrate@cbiclubhouse.com

Thank you so much for being part of our world — you are inspiring us every day to
improve and to help writers change the world!

All the best,

PS:  Let's wrap things up with this:

In practical terms, here's what's coming for you:

• * We will be developing more first-class content that will teach you what you need to know right now to succeed
• * We will give you the chance to get involved and impact the lives of children immediately
• * We will give you access to encouragement, inspiration and motivation specifically tailored for you, the children's writer
• * We will celebrate all of our victories — no matter how small –on our personal journeys to meaning and fulfillment
• * We will develop webinars, videos, courses, coaching and exclusive services to put everything this new era of publishing has to offer within your grasp.
• * And, yes, you'll still get the newsletter every month.  And yes, you'll still get all the market leads and tips about traditional publishing. 
• * And yes, it will still be Jon and Laura at the helm, guiding you every step of the way.

In short, it  will be everything you love about Children's Book Insider, plus much, much more!

There's much more to share with you, and we're still a few months away from unveiling everything, so stay tuned!