My sister Chrissy Love is a radio personality in The Bahamas – and a certified patchouli-wearing hippie. Where I’m tightly wound, she is loose as a goose. Probably comes from living in the land of endless sunshine, pristine beaches, and Bacardi Gold. Whenever I stress about the possibility of something going belly up, she tells me that I must relax and affirm a positive outcome. I’m generally not a relaxer and affirmer; I am more of a planner and a strategizer. Lately, though, I am beginning to think that she has the solution for the author who always seems like that dog that keeps chasing its tail. And we all know what George Clinton said about that.
But back to relaxing and affirming a positive outcome. For almost a year now, I’ve been covering the publishing industry for Examiner.com. I do this in my effort to understand an industry that had stymied me. Almost a year later, rather than having the answers, I only have more questions. Mostly though, while covering the writing careers of others, I speculate about my own in this context and wonder if all of my efforts meant to further said career have any traction somewhere.
I try to use the success of others whose struggles are similar to mine as some kind of a barometer. The rationale for this comes from Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker who says that successful role models are closer than you think. Take my girl Karyn Langhorne Folan. She wrote an editorial for The Washington Post almost three years ago on Loving Day, June 12. That led to her latest joint Don't Bring Home a White Boy and Other Notions that Keep Black Women from Dating Out, which drops February 2nd. She announced on Facebook that she and her book will be featured in April’s Essence magazine. Talk about the Role Model Next Door. She and other authors that I know who have recently sold work help me to keep hope alive.
As I was headed off to The Plantation – aka, work – on the train last month, I was reading The Washington Post Express, the free paper available to commuters. As I usually do, I skipped to the back of the paper and read my horoscope. Usually, horoscopes are very vague and nebulous, like Nostradamus predictions. This one though from December 8 spoke to me:
While someone close to you may be rocketing to the top, don’t let yourself be discouraged because you have a longer curve.
For this reason – at least concerning my writing career – my sister’s earthy-crunchy advice resonates. Because the signs in the heavens and on earth tell me that if I stay the course, relax, and affirm a positive outcome, I might just get it.
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