live and learn

Something interesting happened the other day. I heard they were calling for entrees to a first-novel contest and I decided to send in my baby "Fortnight before Dawn". Wondering whether self-published ebooks were eligible, I wrote to the organizers of the contest. The lady at the other end said they weren't. Although disappointed, I wasn't surprised. And then she added something that I found to be a refreshing take on things. She wrote, "Never mind, at least people are reading it right?"

Instantly, my disappointment went poof. She was right! Wasn't that why I had put my precious debut-bundle up on Kindle in the first place? Because I knew, as a first-time author, that I would have to grit my teeth and twiddle my thumbs, waiting and watching, as my manuscript got shunted from one publishing house to the next for months and years without any one ( almost) ever getting to read a line of it?

At least this way my book gets read. Nothing, and nothing can be more important than that...