Success is a Journey, not a Destination – Guest Post by Layna Pimentel

I am pleased to welcome my good friend and critique partner, Romance author Layna Pimentel back to my blog. Take it away, L!

Howdy all! I'm so glad to be back here at Mark of the Stars with Jessica.

I wanted to take a moment to share a quote with everyone I read one morning on my way to an appointment, 'Success is a journey not a destination,' written by Brian Sweetland.

The quote rings true on so many levels and affects everyone differently. Do you remember saving up your allowance for that super cool walkman, or when bought your first car or house? Think of all the blood, sweat and tears you poured into attaining those goals. It's the time spent, passion and the emotional attachment to such experiences that make those personal items all the more worthwhile.

But while such acquisitions are very nice and comfy, success shouldn't only be measured on how much money you have or spent, the cars in your driveway or how big your house is. Think of all the small successes that you might have forgotten about: conquering your childhood fear of the dark, your first kiss no matter how sloppy it was, and finding your partner for life.

Now stop for a moment and think of how it applies to us writers both published and unpublished. I suppose success could be measured in a multitude of ways: landing the agent you've always wanted, getting a three book contract or as simple as falling in love with the cover art for your book.

Lately, my definition of success is simply finding a quiet corner in my house to think while I write. Oh and there's landing my first contract of course. And most of all, success to me is if I actually put a comma in the right place. LOL I could probably create an ongoing list of what I consider to be successful in writing, but you might get bored so we'll just leave it at that.

So how do you define success? It doesn't have to be writerly or monetary. Success could be baking a cake that actually turns out or cleaning a fish bowl and not killing any of your Siamese fighting fish. *shifty eyes* I swear I didn't mean to kill Blue! My girls will never let me live that one down. *sigh*

I'd love to know what you think. Be sure to leave a comment no matter how silly the success may be. These kinds of things are nice to share and reassuring that you're not alone. In fact, sharing those moments that may seem insignificant can be quite humbling.

Thanks again for having me over Jessica!

It's always a pleasure! Find Layna on her Blog, Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.