NEW MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB

I was whining to a friend the other day about a production delay for my third book, FOOLS RUSH IN. She wouldn’t have it.

“Girl, what are you talking about?” she said. “Just think where you were five years ago.”

Five years ago I was at the BOTTOM of this mountain.

Five years ago, my first two books were unpublished and generally unloved, making the slow rounds of state and regional contests, their queries being rejected over and over by agents of all descriptions. In 2011, I hadn’t yet finaled in the RWA® Golden Heart® contest; I had no agent; I had no publisher. I just had those two manuscripts and this blog and a few friends to encourage me.

My friend is very, very right that I have met so many of my goals from those days and I have come so far. I got that Double Golden Heart® Final in 2012, then I signed with my wonderful agent Michelle Johnson. A year later I cleared the last hurdle and signed my contract with INK’d Press to publish not only those first two books, but a third as well. And I’m SO grateful for all of it!

But the problem is, as I suspect anyone knows who accomplishes great goals they have set for themselves, once I reach one peak, I always find another craggy mountaintop ahead of me. It’s not like I can stop, telling myself, “Well, that’s done. Think I’ll just go on back down the trail now!” I wouldn’t describe myself as a “Type A” personality; I’m just restless, always looking for that next challenge. So if one goal is met, I have to set myself another. And another.

 

That would be me, third from right, last row.

It’s not enough just to have a few books out there with my name on them. I’d actually like to sell some of them. (Ha! you say. And so do I—every time I look at my Amazon rankings.) I want good reviews—lots of them. (There I’m doing pretty well, thank you, readers.) I’d like to sit with the big dogs at the RT Book Signing—even if no one much knows who I am the first time. And someday I’d like something I’ve published to be nominated for an award or two.

 New goals. Something to strive for. Because as Jim Kirk once said, we humans are not meant to live without that constant struggle to overcome obstacles. To do better. To be better.

Even if it means every once in a while, we whine that things are not as we wish them to be.

SL Crew Member a PRISM Finalist!

Congratulations to co-blogger Sharon Lynn Fisher for her 2016 PRISM Awards nomination! Sharon’s SFR novel ECHO 8 is one of four finalists in the Futuristic category of the annual awards given by the RWA® Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal online chapter. PRISM winners will be announced at The Gathering, FF&P’s epic awards dinner/party at the RWA® National Conference in San Diego in July.

Cheers,

Donna