Learning to Bounce

The late cowboy star, Gene Autry, said life isn't about how high you climb, but how well you bounce.

For the business of writing, truer words could not be spoken. A writer's life is often a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. You final in a contest, then get your results back to find the one judge who kept you from winning hated your heroine. You get a call from an editor who asks you to do revisions, only to have them ultimately pass on the work. You sell your first book, but can't get a contract on a second no matter what you propose. Readers love your new series, then your publisher cancels it.

This is the writing life. We rise and fall every day, probably more so now with the uncertainty of the industry and the ever-changing publishing landscape than ever before. Many authors I know are having to re-invent themselves or seek new ways of publishing their work.

They're learning to bounce. Because the writer who falls and doesn't get back up is the writer who will get left behind, who will disappear, whose career will be over.

So no matter where you are in your path, learn to be resilient. Don't let one person's opinion keep you down.

Get out there and bounce.