Cheering for fellow authors

My friend Leilani Garrett’s first novel, After the Burn, is being shopped in NYC this week, and we are excited for her and jealous as hell! 

I have a wonderful agent who believes in my work and has sent it out, but it’s a tough market out there for mainstream literary fiction by first time authors.  Leilani’s upscale urban fiction is lighter fare than mine thematically, and will find a ready audience.  But always, when someone else has good luck, it is so tempting for authors to slip into comparative thinking. 

Why them?  Why not me?  I entertained myself once by writing a story about a woman who thought the secret to getting published was having one of those author-like names–like, say, Leilani?  Just for fun, I thought I’d post that story (“Pia”) for a week or two on my site.  See “Story Bonus.” 

What we all need to remember is that luck and love are unlimited.  We all have an unlimited goodness coming our way, if only we’ll reach out and take it!