I've been swamped lately. What with school, kids, husband, and deadlines approaching, I really haven't had much time to sit and think. In the past month, I've lost a loved one, written a few research papers, cried at my child's art show, and finished a novella. I took that novella and submitted it to a publisher in hopes of getting it published as a part of a Prom themed anthology.
Yesterday, I was offered a contract on my novella. Yeah...you heard me right. I'm smiling from ear to ear right now. My big cheesy grin dripping with excitement. I did it. When I typed those final two words "The End", I thought that would be the best feeling ever since having my babies, but receiving that email accepting my work is right up there. This became a lesson in achievement for me. I had to prove to myself that I could do this...really do this. I've wanted to be a writer since the third grade Young Authors competition, but somewhere along the way, I lost my confidence.
We all struggle with our goals in life. Some of us struggle more than others. I think a huge part of that is that we don't stop to think about what we have accomplished already. We don't think about what we are truly capable of. Most of us are so concerned with self-defeating thoughts, we paralyze ourselves from new goals. I've been guilty of that for a long time.
I lost my mother a few years ago and it woke me up to where I stood in my life. I had to ask myself if I'd done everything I wanted to do. My answer was no. Why? Why hadn't I done the things I wanted to do? I had no answer for that. I don't want to have any regrets. Losing my mother made me realize my life was filled with regrets. Good news for me was that I still had a chance to fix those regrets.
My mother gave me a lot of things. I will be eternally grateful to her for introducing me to my love of books. She showed me that no matter how your life was going, you could escape for a little while into a magnificent imaginary world. I fell in love with books so much, that I wanted to be a part of them. I wanted to write and give that same feeling to someone else. Thank you Mom! Now I get to do that with my novella. I'm not stopping there. I plan to keep going with more and more wonderful stories. I hope you share my dream with me and escape for a little while in one of my worlds.
YAY! It's always great when mothers have a positive influence on ones life! Bring on the wonderful stories!
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