USA Today Bestseller List, December 5, 2013

Patricia Davids here.

 

I received a congratulatory email from my editor on Thursday. My e-book collection, Christmas Brides of Amish Country, debuted at # 133 on the USA Today Bestseller list. It was a dream come true.

I have a writing bucket list on the bulletin board in my office that has been there for a few years. This is what it says.

To make my dream a reality will take eight hours of work a day.

"I dreamed I was a romance writer."

I will…

1. Write four books a year.

2. Win a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award.

3. Win a National Readers Choice Award.

4. Have a USA Today bestseller.

5. Have a New York Times bestseller.

6. Win a Rita Award.

7. Have a book made into a movie.

"I dreamed I was a romance writer."

It all starts Today.

I WRITE.

As of last Thursday, I was able to check off number 4 on my bucket list. Last spring, I checked off my first goal when I drew a line through number 2. My book, A Home for Hannah, won the Reviewer's Choice Award for the best Love Inspired novel of 2012.

I have been blessed, and I know it. I've had some wonderful breaks in my career. Personally, I think my dear, departed husband is doing some arm twisting up in Heaven. He was a big persuasive man who believed in me wholeheartedly. There is no one I would rather have cheering me on.

But what happens after the cheering is over and the congratulations stop pouring in?

They do stop. The world moves on and someone else wins an award or does something noteworthy. What replaces the dream that meant so much?

Sometimes it is harder to be successful than it is to be unsuccessful.

By reaching the peak you've worked toward you are left with only one way to go. Oh, you can cling to the peak for as long as possible, but eventually what goes up…must come down. A wise person prepares for the trip in both directions.

Success does not define us. It doesn't make us skinny. It doesn't solve our troubled relationships. It doesn't make us happy. If will very likely bring a new set of problems.   

I have enjoyed my fifteen minutes of fame. I printed off and framed a clip from the USA Today website for my mother. She's thrilled. I also understand that not everyone enjoys my success. We are human after all. We harbor that little green monster of jealousy inside us even though we keep it buttoned up most of the time. I'm as guilty as the next person in this, but I try hard to feel good when others do better than I have. The green monster gets a few seconds of freedom and then I close the lid on him. Life is too short and precious not to enjoy seeing others succeed.

I have complete confidence that I will check off all the dreams on my bucket list before I'm through. Overconfidence is one of my most serious faults. It leads to as many failures as successes, but it gets me up and charging toward the goal again when I get knocked down. If you stay down, how can you get where you want to go?

I'm thankful today for what God has allowed me to achieve in writing and in all parts of my life. I know full well that none of it would have happened unless it was part of His plan. I'm also prepared to slip down the slope and set my sights on a new goal. That will require me to finish another book so I'd better get writing.

 

You can aid in my next success by picking up a copy of my newest book, Amish Christmas Joy. On sale now.

What have been some of your successes? What have been some of your failures? What's next in your life?