I swear I used to think I knew which way life was going. Isn’t that just a hoot? Because about the time you think something is one way, can’t change, doesn’t deviate, wham! A wrecking ball swoops in and smashes your preconceived notions.
And this one did, in a great way!
I got the best news from a dear friend of mine. We met nearly fifteen years ago, when she came to me through a literary agent about editing her book. As time went on, we became close friends. Love when that happens!
Throughout all these years, her writing has gotten better and better, and now she crafts the most exquisite stories, with quirky and wonderful characters, through a delicious turn of prose. She’s never given up on that dream, and although living a happy life all this time, her eye was on the publishing prize.
She’s had success along the way as well, but that brass ring had escaped her grasp.
Publishing is a brutal business. Although we now have this idea in our culture that anyone can write and publish a book. Which they can of course as now self-publishing is so cheap. But what the self-publishing e-book craze has done is to narrow the Traditional-publishing window even more. What once was a one-in-a-million shot is now one in ten million. Yep. A brass ring indeed.
And oh, I forgot to tell you—my friend writes Literary Fiction, the true tiny top-spot on the pyramid. Making the odds even greater.
Not only in the face of this has she continued to write, continued to improve, continued to seek that tiny portal to break in, but she’s kept up her spiritual walk in stellar fashion. For all these years, she’s “seen” the success she seeks, visioning it, never giving up.
Boy, it’s easy to give up on this dream. Any writer can tell you that. Refer back to the odds above. I’ve seen far more writers quit than stick with it—ninety percent. Fighting this fight will just humble you to your knees. And then some.
Not so long ago, my writer friend stumbled upon (although anyone walking a spiritual path will grin here 🙂 a different path for approaching agents. A unique way. One I hadn’t heard of.
It was an expensive way as well.
And for a starving writer, money is always an issue!
But she ponied up—her intuition told her to. She’d been walking through the open doors for a while now, and knew how to follow her guidance.
And, wham! Doors opened, indeed. She received I don’t remember how many offers to represent her book. She settled on an agent who regularly inks mid-six-figure deals. And who believes entirely in my friend, her writing, and that she will sell the book in a very big deal.
As soon as she told me, I thought my heart would surge out of my chest! Electricity zinged up my spine and I could only cry with joy! I’m happier for her than I can begin to convey.
I talk often about happiness in life, and how that’s an inside job. And it is. We choose to be happy. Or not. By how we see life, how we face it. The emotional value we put on events.
But sometimes, great joy comes from something external. Especially when it involves so many things you love, and especially someone you love.
My friend is about to be very famous—I’ll yell it from the rooftops when the deal is inked!
Kudos to her for keeping the faith. For continuing through the grind when so many before her have given up. For keeping on keeping on.
And for becoming a simply breathtaking writer.
What story makes you happy?