Defining Success
This is a tricky proposition. There are a number of metrics to use for defining and measuring success. We usually go to the financial. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that, although our better angels push us toward aspirations that include quality of life, relationships, and fulfillment of ourselves and our life’s purpose. Related to the financial, we look at audience, appreciation, awards, and other markers like these. Wiser people advise us all our lives to not do what we do solely for the money, or even primarily for it. If you’re creative, there is a lofty goal of creating what you want, what makes you happy, and trying to gather other markers of success as a byproduct.
I’m not sure of the answer. Partly, that is because the definition slides. There is value in constantly striving for the next level of success above where you are no matter how you define it. There is also a gradual loss of perspective and a decline in celebration through this process. If I stop where I am a moment, long enough to look back to where I was a decade or more ago, I’m living my wildest dreams now. I write full-time. We are financially stable despite recent setbacks. I do write the stories I want to write. I have a bigger audience than before. There are loftier goals ahead of me I was in no position to pursue before. I’m living my past self’s dream. Whatever I strive for in the future, it benefits me to recognize what I’ve already achieved.
Here are some things you might be interested in:
The Three Seasons of Stephen King
by Jay Wilburn via LitReactor
We tend to think of Stephen King as a fully formed author from the start, and with his first four releases being Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, and The Stand, it’s hard to imagine him going through developmental stages in his career. As I caught up to the present in his catalog of work …
“Vomit Comet”
An end of the world story by Jay Wilburn
On that final evening, they sat going left to right Brian, Kody, Ledger, and Trent, if you faced them from behind on top of that grassy hill or from right to left if you faced them from in front with your back to the burning city beyond the slope …
My latest novel Ruthless Rabid Raging Ravenous Rampaging Remorseless Repulsive Revolting Repugnant Zombies! is coming out in ebook March 8th on godless. It will come out in ebook and paperback on Amazon March 15th.
If you’d like to see the uncensored gory version of the cover, click here.
I wrote this entire novel live on Twitch in November. I’ve edited it several times since then. It is essentially one 53,000 word action scene full of zombie craziness. I hope you enjoy it when it comes out.
Thanks, Everybody
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