Synchronicity and the First Sale (Part I)

This Memorial Day weekend, while my daughter Grace and I suffered colds together and the rest of the family enjoyed the long weekend (we really were happy for them), I sold my first book. Yes, The Do-Over appeared at long last on Amazon and hooooooooray, a sale!

I thought about a great many things besides "where did that box of facial tissues get to?" But one thing that struck me was how glad I was I had learned to see and accept synchronicity when it showed up, sometimes even on my doorstep.

E-Publishing as a Fear-Based Activity

I'd been letting the idea of e-publishing roll around in my head for a while. [image error]My friend, the novelist Dennis Foley, cheered me on for at least a year before I let myself imagine it. Still it took more nudging than that for me to consider a non-traditional approach to getting to readers.

I've been a big fan of The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and had the privilege of taking several groups of amazingly creative people through it. (Peer pressure should never be underestimated as a great way to get your life rolling.) In the book, Cameron stresses the importance of looking for synchronicity, ways the universe helps us out.

 

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"We call it coincidence. We call it luck… In my experience, the universe falls in with worthy plans and most especially with festive and expansive ones."

 

 

So I was half-way thinking about moving ahead with my dream of publishing, and doing it my way. (I once had a bumper sticker with Frank Sinatra in a snappy fedora that said, "It's Frank's world. We just live in it.") But, of course, I lacked all the technical skills to make it happen. And then the magic of synchronicity brought me Roxanne…