As an author, how do you gauge personal success?
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"It's hard for me because when I accomplish one goal, I instantly have another. Like I finished a book, then I wanted to get that book published. Then it got published and now I want to keep publishing, but reach a wider audience. When it comes down to it though, success is telling the story I want to tell and learning that it touched someone. It's seeing Ballads of Suburbia all banged up in the hands of a teenager who adores it." - Stephanie Kuehnert, author of Ballads of Suburbia.
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"I have a pretty low standard for personal success: it’s being able to stay in bed from 6:50-7:00 a.m. and listen to 'The California Report' (which is state-wide news) on NPR. When I had regular jobs, I had to get up earlier than that to get to work." - Marta Acosta, author of Haunted Honeymoon.
"Personal success for me is very simple: to keep writing books and having them published and read. Awards and starred reviews are, of course, awesome, but you can really make yourself nuts with that stuff." - Alyxandra Harvey, author of Haunting Violet.
"For me, getting published was the big one. I’m still reeling a little bit from that." - Josephine Angelini, author of Starcrossed.
"There are inner gauges – writing a great sentence, creating believable characters, structuring a beautifully balanced scene – and there are external gauges such as sales, awards and reviews. I’ve found that focusing on the external gauges can drive a girl crazy, so I try to take my joy in the craft and the art of writing. I set challenges for myself, such as writing in a new point of view or intricate world building or tackling a new genre, and find satisfaction in the work. Having said all that, I was doing the happy-dance when EONA debuted at #5 on the New York Times Bestseller List!" - Alison Goodman, author of Eona.
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"Getting emails from readers who loved my work and took the time to write – how amazing is that? Sure money is great, attagirl emails from editors are lovely, and I’m sure it’d kick it huge to make a list, but getting those emails from readers – that’s success." - Trinity Faegen, author of The Mephisto Covenant.
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"On a purely personal level (contracts and book sales aside) I feel like success means make each project a tougher challenge than the book before and learning from my past writing mistakes." - Tera Lynn Childs, author of Sweet Venom.
Come back Thursday to find out how the rest of the authors gauge personal success.
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