Catching Waves

We're at the beach. My family and I are on a huge, well-deserved break. But as I was watching the waves, going into the water and catching the waves, a recent keynote address by the famous Sherrilyn Kenyon washed through my mind.

In this keynote address, poignant and oh, so very real, she said she stopped chasing trends. She wanted to be published so very badly. Heck, she'd been published. 6 books! But now she was chasing dreams, living a life she wishes on no one, and desperate. She wrote book after book, chasing trends in the writing industry. Nothing stuck. And then she wrote a Regency, with the help of her critique partners, and sent it off.

It was rejected. It was a HORRIBLE rejection.

But it managed to accomplish one thing. It put Ms. Kenyon back on the right road. She stopped chasing trends, and she started writing the books in her heart. And those are the NYT best sellers we see on the shelves today. She followed her heart, she wrote the books in her heart, and she SOLD the books. And she told each and every one of us at the M&M Conference, to stop chasing trends, never quit, and keep writing. Write the books in our hearts.

And today, I thought about that as I waited on the sandbar for waves with my daughter. It was SO tempting to chase the waves cresting just to the left or the the right. But I remembered, don't chase trends. And I translated that to "don't chase the waves." We're in the water, we're waiting, we're doing all the right things, A WAVE WILL COME and we WILL CATCH IT.

And that is what writing and pursuing publishing is for me. I am IN THE WRITING WATER. I am waiting, I am doing all the right things. I want to chase that elusive dream, follow that trend... I think it's urban fantasy... but that's not my story to tell..., and I have to hold back. I have to wait. I have to WAIT for the RIGHT WAVE to catch and surf into the beach.

It's hard to wait. But I AM IN THE WATER, I AM DOING ALL THE RIGHT THINGS, AND I WILL CATCH THE RIGHT WAVE.

Be true to your muse. You're in the writing water. You might not know it, but YOUR WAVE might be right around the corner.

Are you ready?

Will you catch it?

Will you ride it home?

I plan to be writing, submitting, waiting, writing, entering contests, and waiting. I plan to be in MY WATER. I plan to write MY STORIES.

I will catch my wave. I don't know when it will arrive.

But I plan to be ready!

Be ready and keep writing!!