Good morning!

I need more coffee. LOL. It’s one of those mornings where I’m trying to get so much done that I’m thinking I need some sort of i.v. pole hooked up with my coffee machine.

The road from the day you start writing until you hit the level of success you dream of is long. Longer than most of us want to traverse. Some of us have the patience for it, stick to it during the rocky parts. Find ways to swing over the pits and keep moving forward. Others don’t. They give up and go home, either convinced they’re a failure or blaming anyone else they can on their lack of overnight success.

What those authors don’t realize is the thing that keeps the rest of us going is remembering the small victories along the way. How it felt to get that first contract…holding your book in your hands as a printed copy for the first time….seeing someone’s face light up because they’re meeting a ‘real’ author and knowing it’s you they’re so excited to meet.

Reading a review from someone you don’t know, that loves your book. Getting emails or messages on Twitter/FaceBook from readers asking when the next book is coming out.

Being asked for your autograph or to pose for a photo with a reader. Signing the Wall of Fame at Powell’s Books in Portland, OR.

These small things matter. They’re not going to happen every day. Some only happen once, others will have months in between. We use the memories of these moments to get us through the bad times. The dry months when no one wants to buy a book or leave a review.

And we should never forget them.

BB