What Do You Do When....... Thursday, January 18, 2007

....that feeling washes over you that luck is the only reason you're published? I remember the first thing I thought when I heard I won a place in the "Garden Bouquet" anthology at Wild Rose Press was "How many entries were there? Only two and I won?" *rolls eyes*.

I do have a little inferiority complex about my success. "The editor was in a good mood." Or "I have great critique partners" (which I do) are the reasons I tell myself I have contracts. The thing is that it doesn't matter. There's going to be people who completely agree with those reasons. I know I've read things and wondered how it got published. Why shouldn't someone read my stuff and wonder too? Does that mean I'm a "no talent" with a streak of luck?

No. It means that I have work to do to improve my writing. I have a voice now. It's all mine and I finally found it. I'm learning to stop repeating the words "felt", "had" and "moved". No author that I know beats their chest and howls that they're awesome. I mean, we all have to promote and get our names out there, but none of the writers I know have a huge ego around their work.

What I have to work on, for me, is not dissing myself for being a beginner. Crystal was mentioning New York. That's my goal. However, I am totally aware that my writing isn't ready for New York. I still have a lot to learn. It doesn't mean I won't get there. And it doesn't mean what I've written is rubbish. It just means I'm beginning a really great journey that I hope will end up with a great career.

What about you? What do you do?

P.S. Dayna's internet is down and she asked me to post today. Send her good thoughts so she doesn't strangle the internet guy when he comes out to fix it.