My Lottery

There was a quote on Nathan Bransford's blog last week that I found very fitting for this phase of my life.

Here's an analogy sure to brighten the mood of the unpublished: writing a
book is kind of like spending a year creating a lottery ticket. Sunny days,
people! Sunny days!

I definitely identify with that statement. I've written five other books (none of which you'd ever want to read) and each time I was nearing the finish line I had momentary glimpses of being published. However, the hope was fleeting as I realized that writing a *good* book is not an instantaneous thing. It takes work, and practice, and a lot of disappointment. Once you've spent said amount of time writing it (here's where Nathan is a bit ambitious, since with a full-time job and any kind of life, it's nearly impossible to finish a book in a year), you can pretty easily determine if it's worthy of publishing or not. Certainly an agent can see that immediately. And if the writing is just not there yet, no amount of hoping is going to get you published. Your only course of action is to pick up your pride and start a new book. I managed that last time with ease. I was excited and determined when I began my latest book, mere weeks after I finished the last. This time I'm a little hesitant. I just poured my heart and soul into this book. The thought of starting over again sounds akin to cutting my heart out with an exacto knife.

Here's to hoping my number's up.