Do not stop

Hi there, and welcome to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by. Really, I am. It’s good to have you here, to know you’re reading, that you’re hanging on through the end of the year.

And that’s what we’re talking about, this month. We’re closing out 2018 and ushering in 2019, in the best way I know how. I have some things I think you ought to know, or ought to remember, to realize, because I’m fairly certain you already know a lot of these things. I’m going to tell you anyway, because I think these are things we need to keep in mind, especially as we’re about to enter into a new season of life, a new year.

#4: Success is fleeting—don’t let it get you stagnant

Tuesday, we talked about failure. We remembered what it’s like to fail, and we reminded ourselves that failing doesn’t make us failures. Today, I want to discuss the opposite.

For some of us, success came easily. For some of us, success only meant finishing a novel, and once we did that, once we succeeded, that was it. That was all we wanted to do, and so that was where we stopped. For others, success meant publishing that novel and making money off it. We did it right, we started making money. But that meant we’d done the thing we set out to do, so there was nothing more to do with it anymore.

That’s what I want you to avoid.

You, dear writer, must not allow yourself to become stagnant. You must not allow your writing to be a thing in the background, a thing you think little of, a thing you allow to fall to the wayside when you’ve completed a goal.

I know how easy it is to become stagnant when a goal is completed, when we’ve done something amazing. And I know why it is. We want to revel in that completion, to enjoy it as long as we possibly can, without thinking about the fact that now we have to set a new goal, move on to a new task we must complete. I know, it’s easier to revel than it is to start from the bottom once more. I know, dear friend. I know. I’ve been there, too.

But we must not allow it to happen, when it comes to our writing. We must not allow writing to be the thing that falls aside, once we’ve reached our success—whatever that success may be.

So you’ve finished your book—now what are you going to do with it?

So you’ve edited it—now where are you going to get it published?

So you’ve published it—now how are you going to market it?

So you’ve marketed it—how much are you going to make from it?

So you’ve made a following—now how are you going to keep them?

There’s always something more for you to do, some new success to reach for. Don’t allow your successes to make you stagnant, to convince you that you’ve done this great thing and can now take a break.

Take a breath, take a rest, yes, by all means. But don’t stop. Don’t let it fall aside.

Success is fleeting, success is amazing, contagious—and you must always reach for it. Always, no matter what. No matter when. No matter what you’ve just done.

You, dear writer, can always do better. Even when you’re a bestseller.

Don’t let your successes convince you that you’ve peaked. You haven’t. You’re just coming into your best days—can’t you see them, just there, up ahead?

I can.

[love]

{Rani Divine}