The Next Level

I kissed my daughter while she was sleeping. My family smiled with pride as my girl and I grabbed our luggage and headed for LaGuardia Airport. I was excited to be heading to Miami to claim my Book of the year award for urban fiction. When the plane took off, I reflected on everything that got me to that point.

When I first wrote “Monster” I didn’t know how it would be received. Would women hate it? Was my writing good enough? Would my friends who were part of the basis of my characters, hate it? Would it be looked at as just another “hood book”? Would more than just my friends and co-workers support it? While I had these lingering doubts, I was very happy to see that most people got the message I was trying to relay with my story. The lord knows the journey to promote it has been far from easy. Since I am self-published, in order for my book to sell, people have to know it exists. (Thanks to everyone who helped me to promote my book. You guys know who you are, and I love and appreciate you.) I, along with those that care about me, spent days, weeks, and months telling people about the book, hoping that others would give it a try. Most liked it, some didn’t, but that comes with the territory. I reached out to different reviewers and book organizations, trying my hardest to become known in the literary world. There were times when I wanted to give up. There were times when I wanted to stop writing, but I was proud of what I had created and I believed in it. It was that pride and the encouragement from those important to me that gave me the strength to continue. Time passed and I was voted as a finalist for Reader’s Favorites Book Awards. I was proud to just be named a finalist, but when I received word that I won, it was an unreal feeling for me. I thought of all the negative things that some people had said, I thought about those who laughed at the thought of me being a writer or discouraged me, and while it would be easy to want to rub it in their faces, I didn’t want to do that. The victory felt better because I was bigger than that. It was that feeling of rising past the adversity that made the victory great to me.

The next day, my girl and I headed to the Miami book fair. I was thrilled to see my book on shelves. I stood next to my novel, and people were excited and surprised to know that I was the author of the book on the shelves. The whole experience was both euphoric and humbling. Not too far from me was the author of “Beautiful Creatures” while I have a decent following, she had a following of thousands. Seeing that helped to keep me grounded and helped me to realize that I still had a ways to go. Later on that evening, I got dressed in the best outfit I could put together from Kohl’s (Lol, I told you guys I still have a ways to go, I’m not on an Armani level yet.) and headed to the awards dinner. There were tons of people, lights, cameras, and other award winners from around the world. I walked on the carpet holding the book I had written, the book that brought me here, and I smiled for the cameras. I pulled my girl in for some of the pictures with me. She deserved a lot of credit. When I vented about my fears with the book, she listened. When I spent hours writing and re-writing, reading out loud and pestering her to read it also, she was there. While she knew that 90% of the book was really about my life, she accepted it and understood that dark period of my life was what made me who I am today.


The time came to go on the stage and claim my award. The announcer called my name, read some info about my book, and placed the medal around my neck. I took more pictures, and headed for my seat. I took pictures of me with the medal and shared it with my friends and family on Facebook. Seeing so many of my friends, family, and supporters happy for my success is such a positive feeling that I cannot begin to describe it. I thought about the rejection letters from agents, I thought about some of the negative teachers that told me I wouldn’t amount to anything when I was growing up, and I thought about the people who hated that “Monster” was successful. When I had to go through those times, I hated them; but I realized that I had to endure those dramas as a means to keep me humble. All of those negative things helped me to appreciate what I was given. Before I headed to Miami for the book awards, I received a nice review from Writer’s Digests, but I did not win their book award. I was slightly disappointed, but I reminded myself that I should be grateful to have won an award, period. Many people have written books and have dedicated their lives to the craft. Most of them never win an award. Here I was going to Miami, and getting one for my first novel. I stopped myself from being greedy and thanked God again for the blessing.

So, what is the point of this blog? My point is even if people discourage you, even if you’re afraid you’re going to fail, don’t stop doing what you love. You should always believe in your work and your abilities. The point of this blog is to appreciate what you have and all the people along the way that helped you. The point of the blog is to encourage everyone to strive to not stay stagnant, to see that you can always improve, and to not become greedy with success. As we head into the New Year, I hope we can all reach the next level together.MonsterMonsterBen Burgess Jr.