An acquaintance of mine, who has many, many books published (mostly erotica), has just acquired an agent. I am briefly jealous.
Jealous because this means she's taken the time to work on her career, something that, sadly, I haven't done lately. And happy for her because she's taken the next step forward in her career.
It seems like every fall I go through this: continue as I've done? Strive for more?
It looks like this fall won't be any different ....
Showing posts with label publishing career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label publishing career. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Reflecting ... as in puddles ?
I've been thinking about an acquaintance of mine who set a goal for herself to be a single-title author within 5 years of selling her first category book ('category' = Harlequin and it's slightly lower on the food chain than a single-title book).
She's writing because she wants to but also as a career. Hence her need to achieve a certain milestone by a certain date. I don't really have such milestones, and I wonder sometimes if I should. Is my lack of milestones laziness on my part or am I truly okay with where I am?
I was pondering this today as I drove home from work in the rain (not snow, thank heavens!) Should I be aspiring to the "Big Time"? Should I go after a contract with a bigger publisher? I periodically consider this idea, but today I wondered if I was actually being lazy or avoiding failure by not striving. I started to visualize it ... waiting 18 months to 2 years for a release; hoping my books sell so I can get another contract; seeing my book on a bookshelf at Barnes & Noble ...
I could visualize it. I'm just not sure it's worth it. I'm enjoying myself immensely right now and I'm not sure I need that validation. Or let me put it this way: if someone comes and offers it to me, I'd be interested. But I'm not sure I want to dread checking the mailbox again ('another rejection letter? Who's it from this time?')
So for now, I'll continue as is. I have a series that I plan to pitch to a bigger publisher and as soon as it's ready, I'll gird my loins for that battle again. I like to revisit this idea now and again, sort of poke it and prod it and think about it. I don't think I'm ready to start setting goals again. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the ride ....
She's writing because she wants to but also as a career. Hence her need to achieve a certain milestone by a certain date. I don't really have such milestones, and I wonder sometimes if I should. Is my lack of milestones laziness on my part or am I truly okay with where I am?
I was pondering this today as I drove home from work in the rain (not snow, thank heavens!) Should I be aspiring to the "Big Time"? Should I go after a contract with a bigger publisher? I periodically consider this idea, but today I wondered if I was actually being lazy or avoiding failure by not striving. I started to visualize it ... waiting 18 months to 2 years for a release; hoping my books sell so I can get another contract; seeing my book on a bookshelf at Barnes & Noble ...
I could visualize it. I'm just not sure it's worth it. I'm enjoying myself immensely right now and I'm not sure I need that validation. Or let me put it this way: if someone comes and offers it to me, I'd be interested. But I'm not sure I want to dread checking the mailbox again ('another rejection letter? Who's it from this time?')
So for now, I'll continue as is. I have a series that I plan to pitch to a bigger publisher and as soon as it's ready, I'll gird my loins for that battle again. I like to revisit this idea now and again, sort of poke it and prod it and think about it. I don't think I'm ready to start setting goals again. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the ride ....
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