Morning everyone!

I’ve recovered from the plague I had last week, and will be fine for a long time. That’s the hope, anyway. Given I’m 52, new ailments can crop up at any time.

That’s young in my mind. I plan to live until I’m 90 at a minimum, so lots of years left to live. And that’s what I want to do: live.

I’m a huge believer in visualizing what I want in my life. I’m not talking daydreams. We all do that. Rather, it’s seeing in myself where I want to be as a person in five, ten, fifteen years. And then taking the small steps every day to reach those places.

There’s almost no basis behind the idea of an overnight success. It seems that way to those who are on the outside looking in, but not to the writer. What readers don’t see is the hours spent writing books. The time spent not sleeping just to get one more chapter finished. The gut-churning process of editing (that can, and often does, take months). Time away from our families, our friends.

And then there’s the nerve-wracking experience of writing query letters and synopses! Not to mention, waiting to hear back from an agent or publisher. I’m fortunate in that I now have an agent. She’s handling the submission part. But I still have to write the books, come up with a blurb and synopsis for each one.

By the time a book hits the shelf and catches on with readers, it’s been years since the author sat down and wrote that first sentence. In some cases, it doesn’t even have any of the same words as the one that they initially began the novel with.

Does that sound like it happened overnight?

The visualization isn’t just about my books, though. It’s about me being healthy. And that’s physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you’ve followed my blog for long, you understand how many decades I’ve dealt with issues. Things are still improving. Am I where I wanted to be 3 years post surgery (this coming May)? No. But every single day, each step I take, is working toward that. It’s having the confidence to say no to some of my favorites (like gummy bears!) because my body likes them a bit too much. It’s not making excuses and doing the exercise I need to do.

Okay, so last week was a crapshoot for that. I was sick. Even I know when to slow down and let my body recover!

My next big goal year is 3 years away yet. I know where I want to be, as a person, an author, when I turn 55.

Now to get to work and get there.

BB