Healthy Competition

I am proud to announce that my friend Rebecca now has a contract for her book. Her personal challenge to "beat" me paid off. In a matter of months, she will have an ebook published. Could she have done it without me? Yes, but it wouldn't have been nearly as fun, I bet.

And, really, I had nothing to do with it. She wrote the book and the query letter. She expended the energy to send it. I get the pleasure of watching her bask in well deserved glory. I can learn from her experience. So really, I may get more out of it than she does, in a matter of speaking.

But more importantly, I have learned something about myself from our healthy competition. Everyone needs goals. When you are a writer, they can easily elude you. Distraction is my excuse to avoid the hard parts. I have a manuscript screaming at me to revise it. But I let it sit. Why? Because it's a lot of work. Add to that my feeling of inadequacy because I am a novice, and you have one writer who is doing everything to avoid her heart's desire.

This week, I finally admitted my feelings of self-defeat. My husband listened as I whined about how I have nothing to show for all the time I have spent typing away. And then, he showed me all of the things I do have and why they matter. I love him and am grateful he is supportive!

So, today, I am going to challenge myself. I set out to write a book to see if I could do it. I did. Now I have to revise it. But who should I compete with? Maybe myself? I wonder, though, how long that would last. So I'm thinking I'll challenge Rebecca again. My book will be revised before she is in print. That sounds reasonable. So, how 'bout it Becc? You still up for some healthy competition? I hope so, because in my mind it's a done deal.