Everyone wants success, right? One of the definitions I found in the dictionary is, “the gaining of wealth and fame.” I suspect that is the interpretation most people put on success. The other two definitions I found are, “favorable or desired outcome” and “one that succeeds.” Most people who have achieved the “gaining of wealth and fame” are what we think of as a success.
This year I accomplished the publishing of my book, “Dangerous to Love” in both e book and print. So I would argue that the “favorable or desired outcome” is by far the most important definition. When I was growing up my father always grew a large garden. It was beautiful, with straight rows devoid of weeds and hoed to perfection. I was drafted to help with this and while I would rather have curled up with a good book somewhere, there was always a feeling of satisfaction to look back on a row and observe what a good job I had done. I had done it. It didn’t just happen to be that way and nobody helped me, I did it myself. I felt the same way when I learned to sew and to cook or turned in a particularly well done homework assignment. Of course, at the time I didn’t think about it as success but just that I had done a good job.
When I began to write, it never occurred to me that I would ever publish anything. As time went on I began to think maybe I could after all. It was a long learning curve to write a book. When I was finished I had to decide if I was going to publish it myself or depend on getting an agent or editor. I decided to go with self publishing even though I knew there was a lot involved. You have to understand I am not a techie, I face my computer every day like we are adversaries. It took me several months. The only part I had done for me was the cover and I got a wonderful one from cover artist and romance writer, Kimberly Van Meter. When it was done and I finally looked at it on my computer screen on Amazon it was a truly magical moment. I had achieved the “desired outcome.”
I don’t expect to achieve wealth and fame, but I am a success. I had a dream and a goal and I did it myself. My husband and my family encouraged me but I was the one that had to do it. Am I happy? Yes, I am. Am I proud? You bet, I am. But the success of accomplishment has another gift it brings with it — confidence. If you achieve a goal, even a small one, it gives you a feeling of self empowerment to go on to the next one. Finally, you reach for the big one. For me that was writing and publishing a book. Now I am into writing my second book and when I hit writer’s block or it just doesn’t read right I will cling to my confidence that I did it once and I can do it again.
How much happier we can all be if we think of success in terms not of material gain but in terms of accomplishment of our dreams.
Elsawritesromance 