I've just reached a major milestone. Well, not today but recently, in fact since my last post to the LoveCats. That's right - I'm twenty one! Well...strictly speaking I'm not twenty one, that happened a while back. But I do have a twenty first to celebrate and it's making me smile. I recently hit the 21 books milestone and still don't quite believe it. I'm not a fast writer and I've never set myself goals of reaching 50 or 60 books. To do that I'd either need to increase my pace enormously or have started writing much earlier. I'd even reached the point of almost forgetting how many books I'd written. I recall them all as individuals, you understand, but keeping track of the number is a different matter.
Then there's the fact that the book on the shelf is several books behind the one you're working on, the one most recently accepted and (argh) the one on which your waiting revisions.
So it was fantastic to see how the total had grown when my husband recently asked how many books I'd had accepted for publication. That total had just crept up on me somehow after the first few that seemed to creep along so slowly.
You know what that total means, don't you? I'm a fully fledged adult at last! Yay! Of course that meant a celebration, complete with French bubbly, thanks to said husband. No, this photo wasn't taken on that day, but I so love my friend's cupid champagne flutes it seemed fitting to include it here - very romance writerish.
What's so great about reaching 21 books?
First up I have a back list. I love that! So often now I have reader mail from people who've read a recent book of mine then gone back to read previously published books.
It makes me feel like I've been productive. Look, I can say, waving an expansive arm. I've achieved something.
I'm already on my way to 25 or even 30 (when I finish wrestling with the current wip that's hit a little glitch, that is).
I've learned that, yes, I can achieve when I really try. Believing you can create something from nothing (or close enough given the tangle that is my brain) is incredibly empowering.
In the process of writing 21 books I've joined both writer and reader groups and made stacks of writer and reader friends who have change my life enormously. Yay!
If I've written 21 then surely it means I've learned enough along the way to make the next one a little easier. Surely? Maybe? Fingers crossed, though I suspect that may be wishful thinking.
And of course, this milestone meant the chance for a celebration. I've learned how important that is, and enjoyed myself to the full.
How about you? Do you have something to celebrate now or soon? If not yet, what achievement would you like to celebrate down the track?
I'm so chuffed about my 21 that I'll give away a copy of my new book AN ENTICING DEBT TO PAY to someone who leaves a comment. Just pop back at the end of the day to see the winner's name.
