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!
