There’s a song I love by Sugarland called Something More. It’s a great song about life and living it the way it’s meant to be lived. There has to be more than the daily rush and hustle. These lyrics have always stood out to me:
Some believe in destiny and some believe in fate
But I believe that happiness is something we create
You best believe that I’m not gonna wait.
Ever since I began working for myself as an independent author, I’ve never been happier. I’ve waited my entire life to really learn to love myself. In college, the thought of being alone with my mind and my thoughts was terrifying. I wasn’t happy with me. I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do. I thought I’d never figure it out.
Now, as I approach my 27th birthday in nine short days (agh!), I find myself looking forward to the future, able to spend countless hours by myself (and enjoy them), and most importantly, I’m still determined to work and make things happen. Perhaps more so than ever.
I used to think that the best thing about writing was that I got to create worlds and characters and stories that I wanted to see and know and read. Believe me, those are still some of my very favorite things in the world and I have so many worlds and characters and stories in my head that need to get out and onto paper. But I’ve had so many people just this week reading Between Worlds and telling me, “I’ve missed your characters! I can’t wait to find out what happens next!”
That, my friends, is the coolest thing ever. It not only reassures me that I’ve written something that is worth reading and enjoyable, but it makes me miss my characters, too. I’ve taken some time off from the next Cemetery Tours to work on my new YA novel/NaNo project, but I really do miss Michael and Kate and Luke and Brink. I can’t forget about them. And I won’t.
As much as I love those characters, however, they’re not alone inside my head. Along with the rest of the Cemetery Tours series and Boy Band, I have at least three more series and five stand alone novels in my head right now. If at all possible, I’d like to get them out sooner rather than later.
For some reason, I’ve always had it in my head that I can only do one book a year, but the more I read about other independent writers, the more I realize that’s simply not the case. I could probably easily produce four or five high quality books in a year. I’ve always been a big believer that more often than not, the only thing standing in your way is that little voice inside your mind telling you that you can’t. You can’t. It won’t work. It’s impossible. The mind is a powerful thing and I believe that it can hold you back. This year, I’m going to do my best to remind myself that I can. Great things are so possible. Too many people who’ve gone before us have already proven that. Who are we to believe otherwise?
PS – I’m adding this picture in because posts always look better with pictures than without.
A Platform of Sorts 