Yesterday, I kept refreshing my email waiting for confirmation that I got accepted into the Baltimore Book Festival. They said they'd email by close of business, so when I didn't see an email by the time I went to bed, I figured I didn't get accepted. Then this morning, I opened my email and, sure enough, I got a confirmation email! Yay! I'm in! But then that got me thinking. What if I hadn't gotten in? Does that make me a failure? What is success anyway?

Last night I checked my Amazon sales of my book. From what I can tell, I THINK I sold 5 books last month. At that moment I felt like a failure! Every day I see authors with tons of reviews, book tours, their book in every store, etc. etc. I tried to entice readers with a chance to win a gift card in exchange for reviews, but NADA. But you know what, you have to start somewhere. I may have NO reviews, and my book is not in stores everywhere, but it's in TWO stores, and I did write a book. I'm putting myself out there by going to cons, festivals, contacting bookstores, and advertising. It's been my full time job this summer. 

Success is relative. I've had people tell me "But you wrote a book!" To that I say, yeah. Then others say "But you are published!" Then I'll say, but I have no reviews, and no one knows who I am. But life isn't a competition, and none of it really matters. 

What does matter is I stay true to myself and just keep going. I think I am going to set some tangible goals. That way I can be the one to decide.