Welcome to week 2 of the children’s book challenge. Even though I am only 2 weeks in this challenge I am learning some valuable information that will help me in this pursuit. More than that though I have come across an important question I need to answer that will determine the course of this challenge. That question is what do I want to get out of this challenge?
Decisions Decisions
It’s a simple question with a not so simple of an answer, at least for me. When I decided to pursue this particular challenge it was to answer that question “what if…” What if I tried to get the book published? What if instead of sitting on something I actually took a chance and have publishers look at it? This is what Get to It! is about, getting to life, taking a chance on things because we don’t know until we try. So, I decided to pursue taking that chance.
Yet, as I have been pursuing that chance it has brought that larger question to the surface. While learning what all it takes to get a book published – the work, the process and commitment – I have been realizing that I need to determine what I want out of this challenge. Do I want to simply publish this one particular children’s book or do I want to try to be a children’s author? The answer to that question determines a lot in how I approach the remainder of this challenge.
Why? Book publishers are not looking for one hit literary wonders, they are looking for an author that has staying power. Publishing books is their business and they cannot afford to take a chance on many different authors who will only produce 1 book in their lifetime. They need an author who the public will love and an author that will continue to produce works for them to sell. So, if I choose to only write this one book going to a book publisher is not in the best interest of either party. If I choose only this 1 book then self publishing would be the route I would need to go and pursue. This is why I have to choose what I want out of this challenge.
We All Have Decisions
In pursuing life and all that it offers we all will face those kinds of decisions. We will start pursuing something just to try it out but as we start learning more of what it takes to achieve success it may require more commitment than what we initially thought. This is not a bad thing. It can actually help us know the level of importance each hobby or interest is to us.
Knowing how important something is to us helps us in knowing how committed we will be and how we go about pursuing that something. For instance, say you have thought about playing tennis and decided to take a few lessons to learn how to play. During those lessons your instructor is explaining the rules of the game, the best practices, techniques, etc. While your instructor is teaching you all these different things you realize there is more to tennis than just hitting the ball back and forth. You have to make a decision. You can either just learn the basics so you can get out on the court a couple of times a year or you can bring your focus during the lessons, soaking in all the instructor is saying, practicing throughout the week in order that you can be the best tennis player you can be. Neither way is better than the other, it is a matter of deciding what you want.
We all have decisions to make when pursuing life and living. We all have to decide what we want to get out of it. Just as I have to determine what level of an author I want to be you, I, all of us have to decide what level of living we want to do. Some may be super focused on one or two things, some others may be content on sampling in all kinds of things. Whatever level you choose to live the most important thing is to live. So let’s live!
Attempt it. Chance it. Try it. Get to It![/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section]