Motivation

[LynnMcMo]

I have this friend—is that even the right word?  Maybe acquaintance would be a better fit—that has been in my life on and off since high school.  She is a writer, and she is one who I expected would be rather excited about my novel being published.  In all of the emails and MySpace messages I have received from her in the past couple of months, she sure seemed to be happy for me. When I saw her at the library last night, I showed her my proof copy of Forsaking the Call.  She smiled and congratulated.  And then attempted to stab me in the back, or at least to undercut my joy.

Oh, she tried to soften her words with phrases like “it’s my opinion” and “it might be OK for you”.  But the gist of what she was telling me comes down to this—FTC doesn’t count as a published book because I didn’t find a “real” publisher for it. 

She even said, “I would never go through self-publishing.  It’s like saying ‘I am a good writer and to prove it I had to pay someone to publish my work’.”

I kept smiling until the conversation was over, wanting it to end quickly.  There were things I wanted to say, but none of them could be said in a tone that would be acceptable in the reference section of the library!  I did tell her that self-publishing was not something I ever thought I would do either, but the timing was right on this one.  CreateSpace is also more print-on-demand than self-publishing.  The difference?  With POD you only pay for the copies that are actually ordered.  The only up-front cost was the $3.50 I spent to order the proof copy. 

When I walked away, I was MAD.  I sat at a table in another room of the library, my computer open, trying to work on Summertime.  The problem I ran into was that I needed to write some lovely mother-daughter scenes.  Kind of hard to do that when angry about something else.  I ended up updating my website (www.lynnmco.webs.com, if you want to read it) and worked on a couple of little piece.  I just couldn’t get through the scenes I wanted to with this novel.

Trying to work on it now.  I am using my “friend’s” attitude as motivation.  So what if I didn’t go the traditional publishing route?  I AM A PUBLISHED NOVELIST!!!!  Her words can never take that away from me.

[sour_blueberry]

Jan. 6, 2009 at 9:31 AM

Don't let one person bring you down. Kepp looking up and good things will happen!