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| Sally Bayless |
When the Path Ahead Seems Daunting
The other day someone asked about my job.
I said I was an author.
“Are you successful?”
I wasn’t sure what to say.
I’m not the best-selling author of Christian romance in the world.
Or the U.S.
Or even my home state of Ohio.
The view, from where I stand on the path toward being what the world considers a successful author sometimes seems…daunting, to say the least.
If I measure myself against authors who write faster and better and market with more skill—I’m not a success. I’m a failure. If I measure myself against goals I’ve strived for and not attained—again, I’m a failure. And if dwell on those thoughts too long, I start thinking that perhaps I’d be happier in some other job where I was compared only to the people in one small office, not to every other writer in my genre in the whole world.
That’s when I usually eat some chocolate. Then I remember to look back—and up.
First, I look back and remember times like my early adventures with formatting.
I’m an independent author. In 2015 when I put out my first book, a Christmas novella, I decided to format the e-book myself. I could have paid a service to do this, but I knew, having worked in a publishing house back in the 1990s, that updates would be needed after publication. Self-sufficiency would be simpler.
If I remember correctly, it would have cost $50 to have that novella formatted into an e-book. Doing it myself took three weeks.
Three. Weeks.
Not three weeks of an hour here and there. Three weeks of solid, eight-hour days, doing nothing else.
I tried using Word. I tried using Scrivener. I tried coding the entire book in HTML. And I had every issue under the sun. Once, I thought I had it right, then I found that when I looked at the ebook in the Bookerly font on my Kindle, after every capital C or capital K, there was a tab space. Not what you want when you’re writing a book set at C hristmastime and the hero’s name is K yle.
I know people successfully and easily formatted ebooks using Word, Scrivener, and HTML back in 2015. I wasn’t one of them.
But I hung in there—and eventually someone suggested a program called Jutoh. Within a couple of hours, I created an ebook that functioned just the way it was supposed to.
Success! At long last.
Thank goodness everything hasn’t been such a challenge!
Still, sometimes it’s good to look back and see how much we’ve learned and how far we’ve come.
After I look back, I look up, toward heaven. I think about God and the bigger reason that I’m on this path. Sales, great reviews, all of that’s nice, but not the most important thing.
In the end, if my writing gives one person encouragement in their faith journey or helps one person see that they need God in their life, that’s what matters.
So now—before anyone puts you on the spot and asks if you’re a success—look back and find your moments of accomplishment. Look up and remember the victories that really matter. Hold those thoughts in your heart.
Then if someone asks if you’re a success—even if you just got a scathing review or your August sales numbers weren’t what you’d hoped or your publishing house didn’t like your latest proposal—think about those thoughts stored in your heart. And remember, too, that your mother probably told you never to talk about things like money and your own success.
The answer I wish I’d had at the tip of my tongue the other day?
“I have the best job I could imagine—I’m learning and creating and touching people’s lives. I love being an author.”
Sales, great reviews, all of that’s nice, but not the most important thing.
#seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @sally_bayless
#seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @sally_bayless
I have the best job I could imagine—I’m learning and creating and touching people’s lives. #seriouslywrite #encouragementforwriters via @sally_bayless
Love, Lies, and Homemade Pie
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| Love, Lies, and Homemade Pie |
When a woman who’s keeping secrets falls for a journalist who’s digging for the truth, does the attraction between them stand a chance?
Cara Smith has a whole new life planned—a new name, a new look, and a new hometown in Abundance, Missouri. If she can just avoid questions from that intriguing guy at the newspaper, no one will ever find out about her past.
Will Hamlin, editor of the local paper, can’t help but wonder about the mayor’s new secretary. She’s clearly hiding something—something that could be the big story the newspaper desperately needs to stay afloat. But after Will’s initial inquiries fail to turn up anything, he grows less interested in Cara’s past and more interested in winning her heart with slices of pie and stolen kisses.
When a crime is uncovered at city hall just as Will unearths Cara’s dark secret, the repercussions shatter their romance. Has Cara really left her past behind? Can Will finally find a way to save the paper? And can they each place their trust in God and together find freedom in the truth and overcome the obstacles to their love?
Sally Bayless writes contemporary Christian romance that features compelling characters, small-town charm, and heartwarming endings. She lives in the beautiful hills of Appalachian Ohio, and when not working on her next book, she enjoys shopping for cute shoes, kayaking in a nearby state park, doing Bible studies, and watching BBC television with her husband. She has two grown children. For updates on her writing and a free insider’s guide to her books, sign up for her newsletter by visiting www.sallybayless.com.
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