Crisis of Faith

Last week I had one good writing day and then pffffttt! Nothing.

I was in the "why bother" mode? No one buys my books. No one reviews my books. I can't get industry professionals to read beyond my query letter. What's the point?

Why bother to write the next story? 

Therefore, I started making candy. I love making candy. It soothes my soul.

Back to my story-- Hubs has been seriously stressing over the move his office is doing. It's a big move with lots of little plates to juggle on two sticks and he's the juggler. And the kidlet has been working hard to keep A's in all her classes.

So I decided we needed a break from 'stuff', and we took a day trip to Silver Dollar City. I've written about this SDC a few times. We mostly go there to ride the rides. This time it was an off weekend and we pretty much walked onto most of the rides--especially the roller coasters.

The drive is quite long for a day trip (3.5 hours one way), and we planned to leave the house at 6 AM. Of course, we didn't pull out of the driveway to gas up the car until 6:40.

The kidlet had stuff to keep her occupied: games, books, her phone and the Kindle Fire she won in a drawing contest.

--Yes, she has a nicer Kindle than I do!

Hubs and I were talking while she was playing Temple Run and it wasn't until she blurted out, "Heebie-jeebie dance? Mom, really?" did I realize she was actually reading GNOME, book one of The Goblin's Apprentice.

Rewind here--when I celebrated my birthday, I gave away ALL of my books for free on Amazon. At the same time I loaded my Kindle (to check for boo-boos, etc) I also loaded her Kindle.

I had given up on her ever reading my stories months ago.

By the time we reached SDC, she had finished 65% of the story. And she told me she was sorry she hadn't read it before now. It was way better than she expected (high praise indeed from one's child!) She also mentioned that it didn't sound like me, though some of the phrases were definitely mine.

Sunday morning she woke up and finished reading the story . . . she also started reading FAERIE.

Huh?

This is why I write.

Not to sell stories--though it would be nice to make money at this--but to get kids reading. My daughter reads when she has to read, but she'd rather play video games or go on the computer. This was the first time she willingly read a book . . . and it happened to be mine!

It makes all the frustrations of writing worthwhile. Forget the professionals. Forget having the validation from the publishing industry. Forget not making any money at it.

I just received something far more important from one of the toughest critics in my target audience--my daughter's praise.

Maybe I should sit down to write book 4.

Later, Peeps.