It's not to say that I've had a rosy life, or that all is wonderful now, nor am I delirious enough to assume that from this day forward, rose petals will pave my path (although, I must admit, if that happened, my wife would be very impressed).
All I mean is that I believe my outlook on life is directly correlated with how I choose to experience it. If I think good things will come from fighting the good fight, then good things will indeed happen.
Last September I attended the Southern California Writers' Conference. I blogged about that experience and continue to reap the rewards of the guidance I received from that weekend.As I've already mentioned, at that conference, I took an opportunity to meet with agents and editors. Amongst the people I met was prolific author and veteran editor Laura Taylor. Here's a brief bio from her site
1985 to Present: award-winning author of 22 novels for a variety of international publishing houses, including Bantam-Doubleday-Dell, Franklin Watts, Inc., Berkley Books, and Harlequin-Silhouette Books. Current works in progress include a mainstream novel and an associated screenplay.
Some of Laura's awards include:
- TWO-TIME MAGGIE AWARD WINNER
- LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER FOR BEST NEW CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE AUTHOR
- CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER FOR SERIES ROMANCE STORYTELLER OF THE YEAR
- TWO-TIME REVIEWERS CHOICE AWARD WINNER FOR BEST SERIES ROMANCE – BANTAM BOOKS LOVESWEPT IMPRINT
- CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER FOR BEST SERIES ROMANTIC ADVENTURE
- BEST CONTEMPORARY MAINSTREAM NOVEL AWARD WINNER
Also, she's a member of Readers Rule -- these are authors (like Bob Meyer) who have earned the stamp of approval of readers by selling 100,000+ books. To put it in context, Laura Taylor has sold more than a million.Why do I mention all this?
Because the great Laura Taylor is now endorsing my novel, Aces. Her blurb is below.
"ACES from author Ara Grigorian is a powerful, well-crafted, and compelling novel guaranteed to delight readers."
— Award-Winning Author and Editor Laura Taylor
I am eternally grateful for this. In a very crowded and tough marketplace, it's hard for a debut author to get noticed. This is officially my second endorsement--the first from bestselling author Michael Levin. I have update the "Aces" page on my site with both blurbs.
The more I expand my network of friends in the writing community, the clearer it becomes that there are a lot of gracious and giving people amongst us. I am honored to be a member of this tribe. With the help and guidance of people like Laura and Michael, I can't help but have an optimistic view of the future.
Whether 1 year, 5 years or 10 years from now, you can rest assured that I will continue to fight the good fight!
That is so great! Congrats. I attended on of Laura's seminars...she's great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jessica. She is great and an angel in disguise :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Ara! That's fantastic news. :)
ReplyDeleteAloha Ara,
ReplyDeleteNow, *that's* what I'm talkin' about! Congrats, and I can't wait to hold a copy of ACES in my grubby little hands... be it sooner or later, I know I will :)
Ava, thanks. It is nice to get validation :) The journey is still a long one, but at least some people agree I'm not *completely* insane :)
ReplyDeleteMahalo, Mark. And last time I saw you, your hands were neither grubby, nor little :D
Wow, that's great, Ara! I think your optimism is one of the reason I like you so much. Life is too short to deal with pessimists. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gwen. I think believing in yourself and having an optimistic view may be a critical success factor in the long-run as a writer. Last night I read reviews of a book that I absolutely loved. And majority of the reviews were four or five stars. There were three one star reviews and they were brutal. If we stick to it, and get published, people will review our prized possessions -- those pages of words that signify a dream realized. Hopefully most will appreciate, but a handful won't. I can see how I could get lost and trapped in the negativity. And each time I find some of my optimism fade, I dig deep and bring it back out. I have complete control over my view of the world. I can choose to let it disable me, or choose to move on. In reality, I choose to only see one choice.
ReplyDeleteBTW, you're kicking some major word-count butt over the last few days of #NaNo. Great job!
I wish that I could be as optimistic about things in my life as you are. Alas, I'm a bit of a realist so that means I can't always examine the shiny side of things. The world needs more people like you...maybe that way, things would rub off more on people like me :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael. Our wold needs both sides -- the realist and the optimist. The realist keeps us grounded, the optimist reminds us we can still fly if we want. Somewhere in the middle is where great things can happen. I'm always the guy that tries to find the silver lining. For as long as I can remember, I've been like that. My friends now me that way, and my staff expect that from me. Times are tough, everyone wants to believe that we will find our way out. My mom always said that when one door closes, another window opens. At 41, I hope this isn't a temporary thing :)
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Ara!! It sounds like you had a great conference. :-)
ReplyDelete