I’ve known most of what I was going to write for my New Year post for a while. The intention was to think on inspirations from 2013, and how those could be applied going forward. Then I started looking for a Thomas Edison quote I’d seen recently. Edison was a brilliant man, able to apply the vast amounts of data he took in to solve problems not everyone knew existed, and his life philosophies apply just as much to writing as to inventing. Such as:
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time.
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up
The three greatest essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: Hard Work, Stick-to-itevness and Common Sense.
Success in writing, at least the non literary writing I read, is gauged by selling books. The more books you have available to sell, the greater opportunity you give yourself for success. Simple. Sales are often, but not always, gauged on the quality of the writing but as with any endeavor, practice makes you better. Granted there is no rhyme or reason to the success of some books but the key behind those sales is…the books were written, and available.
Last year a writer I first met through dogs (which won’t surprise most who know me) was going through the loss of one of her precious dog buddies. She told me later, as she waited for the doctor to come by and ease this lovely lady on her journey, that she was at something of a loss what she could do, except: “I’m a writer…I wrote.” This is her approach to life, and I probably don’t need to add she successful in both sales and in quality.
A writer friend had her apartment burgled. She lost not only jewelry and other items but also her computer, which contained all of her many books including the WIP. Devastating. Again, a prolific, successful writer, one I admire greatly not only for her writing but also her willingness to help. Not long after the burglary, she was sharing section of her WIP on FaceBook. I told her how much I enjoyed the segment and also admired her getting anything done after her loss. And she said “Some days I only write a line or a paragraph but I have committed to writing every day.”
And as simply as that, I had my life goals re-affirmed. I am a writer. I write. I hit stalls and other demands on my time but every day, I’m writing if only a line or two. And the two tortured lonely people in my WIP thank me although they’re getting impatient for their first love scene.
When the book looms too large in my mind…
When the idea of a full length book or even worse a series looms large in my mind, I remind myself every book is written one word at a time.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasaed149049.html#9oMcwbCbm5iHxTtY.99
MFRW Summer Camp where you can get your head filled with a multitude of ideas on how to promote your books while reliving your youthful times at came. Virtual marsmallows are the best…all the flavor you can remember and none of the calories or tooth decay. You can get to the camp through the MFRW website, the 
Naturally Mykhael showed up since he doesn’t like to be too far away from Kendra for too long. Being Mykhael, he sort of took over, but I think you’ll enjoy learning more about these very special people. 
Mona Karel Author 