Good and bad.
Yesterday I had a living room picnic with good family friends and we played a game called, “Good and Bad.” We took turns saying the good things that happened to us. But we were only allowed one bad.
Only recently have I been able to look at the books I couldn’t sell as good things.
For the record: I’m 4 out of eight (four published out of the eight I’ve written … the novellas count as half a book).
Anyway, I’ve come to realize that the four unpublishable books are not wasted efforts. They’re my organ donors.
For example, the scene when Isela dances with Sebastian in “My Favorite Mistake“, came from a book I wrote six years ago. Isa Avellan’s storyline in Hot Tamara served as the back story for In Between Men.
This morning, as I was thinking about a problem with a new story idea, the answer popped out of my subconscious. I realized I could finally use a part (my most favorite part) of Baby You’re The One in this new story.
When Baby didn’t sell, I grieved for weeks. Thinking it would be my triumphant entre into young adult fiction, the experience really shook me up. I questioned if I’d be a one-hit wonder. But now I see that one bad thing has given birth to so many good things. It restores my trust that things happen only if they’re supposed to. Now I hope that when this new idea is fully born – with a fully functional donated body part – you’ll finally get to read it.
Knock … knock … knock! That’s was me knocking on wood … just in case.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mary
Currently reading: Pop! by Aury Wallington (it’s like she snuck into my 17 year-old self and excavated all the things I’ll never tell my mom … read it!)