Guest Post: Radine Nehring- Yes to Success as an Author

By Radine Nehring

Hmmmm. If you are not a New York Times best-selling author with book sales in the thousands–or even in your own, more local, venue—counted in hundreds (I am including myself here) you can still say “I am a success.”

Of course there are gazillion other kinds of success, from making a delicious meal in the kitchen to feeling good about a work project not related to writing. That’s great, if it’s a helpful definition of success in your life.

But, how about success as a writer on a day when words simply aren’t working, when no agent or editor has responded to your query, or some “knucklehead” gave your latest book a mediocre review? Plus today, worry about pandemic, climate change, and political fighting can mess with peace of mind. Success through all that, too?

For me, the answer is yes, and is found in my interaction with other people in person, as well as spending more time on those connections via computer these days. For a number of years, being able to set up for weekly day-long book selling in grocery stores near my home area gave me a big boost toward happiness. Most of those who stopped at my table were not writers themselves, and their curiosity and even awe were springboards to a feeling of success, even when they did not choose to buy a book. Their friendliness and interest still fill me with gratitude and I hope, when things open up, I can go back to this work again.

Connections with other writers via conferences around the country, plus activity in a local book critique group, (even via Zoom) also make people-power an important way to experience a feeling of success. I know, this depends on how you think about it, but don’t forget, you are in charge of your thoughts and reactions. Be grateful.

Now, while spending much more time at home, there are newsletters, blogs, and social media locations for authors, plus special places like DorothyL’s review posts, and the Authors Guild daily posts covering conversations between authors about all kinds of ideas.

I guess what I am saying, is that, because you are a writer, one kind of success can be measured in friendships related in so many ways to that profession.

GO FOR IT!

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Links:

Amazon-Solving Peculiar Crimes

Radine’s website featuring all her books is Radinesbooks

Radine’s Author’s Guild Profile

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About Radine:

Radine Trees Nehring’s award-winning writing career began when she fell in love with the Arkansas Ozarks and wanted to tell people why. She began by writing articles and essays for magazines and newspapers, sold a non-fiction book about life in the Ozarks to a New York publisher, then began writing her “To Die For” mystery series featuring Carrie McCrite, Henry King, and their friends in the Ozarks. “Solving Peculiar Crimes” adds intriguing and unique Carrie and Henry short stories to that series. Radine is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Ozark Writers League, and Authors Guild. She was chosen as the 2011 inductee into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame.