Patience is a Virtue, Persistence is a Must-part two

A few months ago I wrote an article called Dreams of Being Published and the Heartache That Follows  it was basically a rundown on the luck---or lack there of---I've had where my writing career is concerned. I later followed with the article Patience is a Virtue, Persistence is a Must, which talked about how I didn't let the negatives in this business keep me down.

Now, if you read either of those articles you'd know what a run of "bad" luck I've had in the four years I've been writing. And if any of you have been around in the past year you'd know what kind of flak I'd been getting for being Me during the two First Chapter Contests (one of which I didn't even enter). 

Anyway..... I know I let the insults and such get to me and, for a few weeks at least, chase me away from Gather, but as I've done my whole life, I didn't let the problems keep me down.  Because if I did, then it would be an admittance that "they" were right and I couldn't do that. (and as my coffee mug says you can't let the bastards wear you down). ;-)

As you all know, this business is very hard. And there were many times when I wanted to just put my laptop away and give up writing because I didn't think I'd ever get published.  Part of the reason I didn't quit is because I didn't want to teach my children that's it's okay to give up on your dreams. I want them to know, anything is possible and to fight for what they want.  So, I kept the pain of rejection and abuse to myself and continued to work on my books. 

When I made my first sale to Cobblestone Press, it was that much more special to see their faces light up with pride....although my 12 year old just saw dollar signs.....little does he know. haha 

My children are too young to read my book, since it's adult content, but my daughter (who's 14 going on 20) asked to read it (she loves to read and is starting to get into love stories). So, I told her I'd let her read an 'edited' version....meaning I went through the manuscript and *removed* all content I felt was inappropriate for her to read. And, I blended in the scenes to make it less jarring for her. 

Yesterday she told me she finished the book and loved it! She said the final scenes made her cry....I know she's my daughter and you expect her to be nice, but she's a very honest, straightforward type of person so I know she was being honest and it was the best compliment I've had so far about the book (next two the two emails I recieved from readers who said they were very disappointed the story ended...they wanted more!)

Anyway, as you know, my novella, HER WILL HIS WAY launched on April 18 at Cobblestone Press. As of May 1st it was on the top ten best-seller list. Yay!!!   

I know I couldn't have made it that far without your help, so THANK YOU!

And, if you haven't had the chance to pick it up, you can do so here.

Thanks for stopping by!!

If you'd like to read more, visit me at either of these blogs

Cobblestone Author/Publisher Blog

MySpace

Behind Brown Eyes