The Recipe for Success by Jannine Gallant

Those of us in the book writing business are constantly looking for success, searching for ways to sell more books and earn a little recognition for what we do. It occurred to me this past weekend that the elements to achieve success are the same, no matter what it is you want to do. Many of you know my older daughter has always been a runner. I'm going to use Tara as an example of what it takes to succeed, and how we can apply the same strategy to our writing (or any other) pursuits.

Element #1: Talent
I don't care what people say, if you don't have a certain natural talent for whatever it is you're doing, you aren't going to succeed at it. You can always fix problem areas and improve your craft, but if you're a writer, you'd better be able to string together words in a coherent manner and tell an interesting story. For Tara, she was always naturally good at running and biking. She inherited her talent from my husband who is extremely athletic and good at every sport he's ever done. She blames me for passing along inferior athletic genes, but I tell her she got her brains from me, so she shouldn't complain. LOL

Element #2: Hard Work
This is what you have to do to improve on the natural talent you were given. You have to work your butt off. I don't care how good you are, if you don't put in the time, you aren't going to reach your goal. If you're a writer, that means actually writing. Book after book after book. Chances are you aren't going to produce the Great American Novel on your first try. With every book I write, I get better. I learn what works and what doesn't to improve my craft. You aren't going to produce a better book if you don't work hard at honing your skills, and that takes practice. Butt in the chair and fingers on the keyboards, people! For Tara, it meant running and biking and swimming ALL THE TIME. Training is a lifestyle for her. Her cross country coach in high school gave her the "Hardest Working Athlete of All Time" award. Now in college on the Cal Triathlon team, she never lets up. She works to improve all the time.

Element #3: Persistence
Sometimes it's hard to keep trying when we face failures. In writing it can be rejections, no sales, no notice. We ask ourselves why we bother. Well, the simple truth is you won't succeed if you give up. Tara went from being a powerhouse at a small school to not being good enough to make a varsity running team at a top school. She put education over sports when she chose to go to Berkeley because she knew she wasn't good enough to run for them. After a miserable freshman year, she discovered the Triathlon team. But just being on the team wasn't enough, and the Cal team was large and strong. She wanted to be one of their top girls. She had to learn to swim properly since she had zero experience, and she honed her biking skills and went back to her passion for running. She persisted, and she worked her way up to getting noticed by the coach and kept at it until she was included in the elite group training. That's what we have to do if we want to succeed--persist until we get noticed.

Element #4: Luck
Yes, luck. I swear no matter how talented and hard working and persistent we are, we can all benefit from an element of luck. That publisher who finally notices you. The Bookbub ad that bumps up your sales. BUT, if you haven't put in the other 3 elements when luck finally happens, you won't be ready to take advantage of it. Make luck work for you instead of having it pass you by with little or no benefit. For Tara, luck had a hand in her recent success at the Collegiate Club National Championships in Tuscaloosa, Alabama over the weekend. She'd worked her butt off to hone her talent and be ready to go, and she expected to do well. Then rain happened, lots of rain that required opening flood gates on the river the kids were to swim in for the first leg of the triathlon. For safety, they had to change the format to run/bike/run. Tara took full advantage and finished 10th out of 482 girls. By the way, 4 of the Cal girls finished in the top 10, and they won the National championship, so I wasn't kidding when I said their team was strong. I'd call that a success story for both my daughter and the team!

So, for those of you who lack motivation to sit down and write, keep the faith. Use your talent and boost your skill with a lot of hard work. Persist, and maybe luck will happen to you. It certainly won't do you any good if you quit trying and don't have that book ready to go! That's my pep talk for the day. If you haven't read BURIED TRUTH yet, now's the time. LOST INNOCENCE will be out before you know it!

My Daughter Is a MOB by Betsy Ashton

WARNING: Unrepentant proud grandmother post coming up.

You read that right. My daughter is a MOB. She's not in a mob. She's a Mother Of Boys. This woman, who as a child loved tea parties, playing the piano, and dancing, both ballet and jazz, who loved all things "girlie," gave birth to two boys. And what little boys they are.

The older boy Howie is now five and a half. He loves to run, yell in the house, and play with any toys that make noise. He also likes to color in his mother's coloring book. Inside the lines with a really good sense of what colors go together. He loves being a big brother.

The younger boy Cal loves trucks, motorcycles, running in the house, and playing with toys that make noise. Much of his quiet time is when he's asleep. When he's awake, he's always on. When he's focused on something of interest, forget about getting his attention.

Yes, my daughter's house is alive with the noise only boys can make. And she loves it. She's right at home in chaos.

Before you ask, the boys know the difference between indoor and outdoor voices. They can be quiet when they need to. They are young enough to like listening to stories at bedtime. Howie is learning to read in kindergarten. Well, he started kindergarten being able to read a lot of words. Both have solid vocabularies for their ages.

Howie is a runner like his mother and father. Dad is training for a 100K race. (You read that right.) Mom and Dad have run and finished a 50K already. And Howie has already finished his first 1K race. He ran most of the way, only had to walk a little. No one is sure Cal will be a runner, but he does like racing around the house.

This is a family that likes to do things together. Like Halloween, when they all dress up in themes. Star Wars one year; Indiana Jones with ninjas another. No pretty tutus.

I once asked my daughter if she'd thought about a third child. While she'd still love that girl, she said her husband reminded her that he's in the driver's seat when it comes to the sex of the fetus. She'd have another boy.

Can you tell I love them very much? Can you tell I can be an insufferable bore when it comes to the boys? Can you tell I'm glad we live 500 miles away and aren't around the yelling all the time? We get to be the Disney grandparents who drop in periodically and go home when the boys get messy.

I'm done for now. Got the bragging out of the way. Hope you didn't mind.

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Betsy Ashton is the author of the Mad Max mystery series, Mad Max Unintended Consequences and Uncharted Territory. Her work has appeared in several anthologies including Reflections  on Smith Mountain Lake, Voices from Smith Mountain Lake, and Candles of Hope. Some of her essays and poems have been featured on NPR.