Life is filled with disappointment! There's no two ways about it. No matter how hard you try, how smart you think your plans are, or how well you have prepared, life has a way of messing everything up. Plans go awry, fail, or are knocked completely out of whack. How you handle them, that's what matters!
I just spent the weekend at New York Comic Con, having a blast interacting with fellow authors, artists, and geeks/nerds. It truly was one heck of an awesome weekend!
I was fortunate enough to have a space in the convention to sell paperback copies of The Last Bucelarii (Book 1): Blade of the Destroyer:
When I planned for the weekend, I figured I could sell X amount of books. I ordered that number of books, set up my little spot, and got to work! At the end of the weekend, I had sold less than half the number of books I had expected. Talk about disappointment!
All through the day, I had to tell myself not to worry, get stressed, or anxious because things weren't going as well as I had planned. I had to force myself to be happy with the results I got.
But then I came to a simple realization: I did great! I met a lot of awesome people, made new friends, got my book in the hands of a significant number of people (all of whom, I'm sure, will be hooked!), and made some great contacts in the industry. While nothing concrete has materialized from anything (beyond the immediate sales), the potential for growth and expansion in my career more than makes up for the "disappointment" of not reaching my goal.
And there's a bonus: When talking to a Big Four publisher (who had a booth just a few feet away from mine), I found out that I sold more books over the weekend than the average new author. We're talking books from publishers like Tor, Random House, and Simon & Schuster!
None of this is to toot my own horn, but it's just to help put things into perspective. I felt disappointed by what I felt was a failure to reach a goal I had set, but once I accepted that things were the way they were and found the "silver lining" in the situation, everything started to seem so much better.
Now, as I'm on my way to the Texas Book Festival (in Austin next weekend), I'm looking forward to everything. I may feel the twinge of disappointment if I don't sell as many books as I had expected, but I will take my lumps and find the good in the situation. And trust me, there is always good!
When I planned for the weekend, I figured I could sell X amount of books. I ordered that number of books, set up my little spot, and got to work! At the end of the weekend, I had sold less than half the number of books I had expected. Talk about disappointment!
All through the day, I had to tell myself not to worry, get stressed, or anxious because things weren't going as well as I had planned. I had to force myself to be happy with the results I got.
But then I came to a simple realization: I did great! I met a lot of awesome people, made new friends, got my book in the hands of a significant number of people (all of whom, I'm sure, will be hooked!), and made some great contacts in the industry. While nothing concrete has materialized from anything (beyond the immediate sales), the potential for growth and expansion in my career more than makes up for the "disappointment" of not reaching my goal.
And there's a bonus: When talking to a Big Four publisher (who had a booth just a few feet away from mine), I found out that I sold more books over the weekend than the average new author. We're talking books from publishers like Tor, Random House, and Simon & Schuster!
None of this is to toot my own horn, but it's just to help put things into perspective. I felt disappointed by what I felt was a failure to reach a goal I had set, but once I accepted that things were the way they were and found the "silver lining" in the situation, everything started to seem so much better.
Now, as I'm on my way to the Texas Book Festival (in Austin next weekend), I'm looking forward to everything. I may feel the twinge of disappointment if I don't sell as many books as I had expected, but I will take my lumps and find the good in the situation. And trust me, there is always good!