How to stay motivated?

Yes, amidst the constant stream of rejections that would be enough to cause most people to give up, I have a way to stay motivated. To give you an example:

I woke up this morning and checked my e-mail, which is usually the first thing I do every day, and I found an e-mail from someone who'd just finished reading my book, Sword Across Time. He told me how much he enjoyed it, that it was the perfect blend of adventure and romance, and he had goosebumps reading the final battle that takes place between Morganna and the other characters.

A great way to start the day, but I'm not finished yet.


Later in the day, I returned a movie my husband and I watched last night and rented another (Unleashed-last night's movie/The Interpreter-tonight's movie) and the woman who works there came over to talk with me. She bought my book a year ago and has never said a word to me about it. I figured she hadn't enjoyed it and I didn't want to bring the subject up and put her on the spot, so I said nothing. Well, it seems that she only just got around to reading the book, and, guess what, she enjoyed it immensely and has passed it on to her father who she says will love reading it.

So, what do I spend the day doing? Writing, of course. Now that I'm so pumped from praise, I'm even more determined to finish my manuscript (my fifth) and finally get an agent to take a chance on me.

The moral is that if you are a reader and you love a book by an author--Tell them! It has made all the difference to me on my uphill battle to make it in a tough business. I've been fortunate enough to have one book published, albeit with a small, independent publisher, but I'm not finished yet. No way. I'm going all the way.

Good luck to all you aspiring authors. Have a great day.
Cathy

It was bound to happen

Yep. With all the books available it's near impossible to write a book that is 100% unique. Familiar plots are reworked, similar names and recognizable terminology used among particular genres. A writer is bound to have some duplication in any book they write. Well, recently I discovered an author I hadn't read before, and, besides an irritating habit of overusing the term began, I'm loving his writing. So, there I was reading away, tuning out the world, ignoring my dog, who was pestering me for attention as usual, when I came across a certain term that shook me from my reading haze.

The Ones Who Came Before.

A simple term with a self-explanatory meaning. Great. And also the exact term I used in my book, Sword Across Time to describe the people of Atlantis. My book was published a year and a half ago, and I'm only now reading this Robert Newcombe book, so there's no way I could have read it and picked up the term to use later. I know it was an original thought on my part.

Now, the question is:
A.) Great minds thinking alike
B.) Coincidence
C.) The result of a Universal consciousness at work re-creating a common memory

I know what I think, but then I write fantasy, so I tend to lean toward the unexplained and esoteric. What do you think.

Cathy

Good news and some kinda cool news

Yes, I've been able to attain the painfully worked for, battered ego, heartfelt desire, golden request for a full manuscript. After being summarily rejected by this agent, I immediately e-mailed her back (at my husband's suggestion) querying whether she'd be interested in another manuscript I just happened to have sitting here. Her response was not only immediate, but it was a request for the full manuscript. I had been expecting a request for a partial, not the full, so, needless to say, I was ecstatic.

That was three weeks ago and according to her website, she usually responds in four to six weeks. Whew, you can imagine I'm jumping from my seat every time the phone rings, but, *sigh*, I'm also afraid to see her name every time I open my e-mail. Please, oh, please, don't let her e-mail me. A phone call would be great.

What I need to do is let her talk to this person I met today at the Applefest. I happened to have a table set up there and was selling copies of my book. She came looking for me specifically because she'd bought my book last year and was hoping I had another published in the meantime. She raved about how Sword Across Time was the one of the best books she'd ever read and she couldn't put it down. How ego pumping is that? She wanted to know when my next one would be available. Oh, how I wish I had an answer for her.

Maybe, just maybe, it won't be too long. In the meantime, I'm sitting here with eyes, fingers, and toes crossed. I'll let you know.

Cathy