Meet Shaley Moreira

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shaley Moreira a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shaley , thanks for taking the time to share your lessons with our community today. So, let’s jump right in – one of the most essential skills for unlocking our potential is self-discipline. Where does your self-discipline come from?

Being a writer takes a lot of self discipline. For years, I told myself I was going to be an author one day. From the ripe age of 12, being an author was my goal. At the old age of 27, I realized being an author was still my dream, but I wasn’t doing anything to work towards that. I read Stephen King’s book On Writing, and wow. It gave me the push I needed. My dreams would never come to fruition if I wasn’t doing anything about them. I started writing immediately after I read that book. I wrote before work, after work, during lunch breaks. My first book was awful, but I’d done it. My first book gave me the confidence that I could write a book and I could do it again. I’ve written a book every year since then.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

My greatest two passions are reading and writing. Reading has always helped me to be a better writer. I find myself incredibly inspired by the authors I read. In 2020, with a new baby at home and in the midst of covid, I began a Bookstagram. It helped me with the isolation, to connect with other readers and writers- like minded people who shared my same interests. It quickly grew and I’ve had so many opportunities to connect with the authors I read and love as well as reviewing early copies of books. I’ll tell anyone I can about what I’m writing and working towards and so many people have encouraged and inspired me to keep going. In 2023, I signed with a literary agent. I’ve written 6 novels and am working on a 7th. None of my books are published- but an author I admire once told me, no one who quits ever got published. So despite the many rejections everyone encounters while trying to be traditionally published, I’m confident it will happen one day and until then I’ll keep pushing forward.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

PERSISTENCE. This has been a word I’ve ruminated on for years now. Every time I’ve cried over a rejection or wondered if I should throw in the towel, a quiet but determined voice inside my head whispered, PERSISTENCE. So I keep going.

Another valuable lesson I’ve learned is the value of connection. While growing my Bookstagram I’ve been surprised by the connections I’ve made and the internet friends who have become real life friends. When I started my social media venture, I never dreamed I’d make some of my best friends, the biggest cheerleaders and champions of my work. This has been invaluable to me.

Lastly, confidence. I wouldn’t say I’m the most confident person. But I believe in myself. I’m confident that I will continue to write, continue working towards my goals. Many authors spend decades trying to get published, some even longer. I’d like to believe they all have confidence and belief in themselves that got them to where they are.

My best advice is to keep going. Write as much as you can, take chances, embarrass yourself, put yourself out there. You never know what could happen when you force yourself out of your comfort zone.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

I tell every aspiring author to read Steven King’s book On Writing. I read it, highlighted it, read it again. I still reference it. The main points that stuck with me- keep going, even when it’s hard, even when the writing is bad, push through. Steven King threw away his manuscript of Carrie. His wife pulled it out of the trash and told him to finish it, and look at it now.

Don’t treat rejections as failure. Use them to hone your craft, use it as motivation. What looks like failure is often just a plot twist in a bigger picture.

I hope one day, as a published author I can give advice to aspiring authors and tell them how difficult it was- but how worth it- to fight tooth and nail for something you truly believe you were meant to do. My dad often says, nothing worth doing is going to be easy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2reador2write/

Image Credits

Shaley Moreira