Everyone has his or her own measure of success. For some that measure is the number of cars in the garage. For others it's the number of push-ups they can do under a minute. But how do you measure the success of an artist? The easy answer is to count the number of zeroes in their bank balances, but that doesn't help us much because it applies as easily to the writer as to the welder. If the purpose of art is to get others to feel, then the degree of success is whether, and how well, the artist achieves this effect.
In the same vein I'd like to share with you something that really touched me and made me feel proud. On March 22, K. T. Bowes of New Zealand reviewed my novel, The Gullwing Odyssey, on Amazon. Ms. Bowes is a bestselling author on Amazon, with ten books to her name. While it's always a thrill to receive praise from others who've been at it longer than you have, what really moved me was this:
In the same vein I'd like to share with you something that really touched me and made me feel proud. On March 22, K. T. Bowes of New Zealand reviewed my novel, The Gullwing Odyssey, on Amazon. Ms. Bowes is a bestselling author on Amazon, with ten books to her name. While it's always a thrill to receive praise from others who've been at it longer than you have, what really moved me was this:
I absolutely loved it. I read it in hospital, waiting for my daughter to have emergency surgery and it should definitely have been harder for the author to engross me in anything -- yet he managed it.
These are the moments that make the task of writing (even editing -- ugh!) worthwhile, when someone else says, "That part was really funny," or "I really relate to this character." But rare and special is the instance where someone says, "I was going through a tough time, and your book made me smile."
That, to me, is the measure of a writer's success. That, for me, is why I do what I do.
I would like to extend a heartfelt and sincere thank-you to Ms. Bowes, and wish her and her family strength during their difficult times.
Check out K. T. Bowes's books now available on Amazon, and be sure to visit her blog, The Library Corner, for more great reads. Her latest, Demons On Her Shoulder, published this past Sunday, is a novel of restitution and hope, demonstrating that unique and powerful human ability to build a life from the ashes of destruction, a life without emotional demons.
That, to me, is the measure of a writer's success. That, for me, is why I do what I do.
I would like to extend a heartfelt and sincere thank-you to Ms. Bowes, and wish her and her family strength during their difficult times.
Check out K. T. Bowes's books now available on Amazon, and be sure to visit her blog, The Library Corner, for more great reads. Her latest, Demons On Her Shoulder, published this past Sunday, is a novel of restitution and hope, demonstrating that unique and powerful human ability to build a life from the ashes of destruction, a life without emotional demons.
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