Now What???

Well, we all know that feeling ~ the morning after the big celebration, the big event, the big whatever. And you lay there, staring at the ceiling, and you realize the sun rose just like it does every morning, somebody outside has turned on an irritating leaf blower, and you have to get up and make your own cup of coffee if you want one.

            So, you meander into the kitchen, start the coffee and think, “Now what?”

            My first novel was published yesterday. It was officially launched and all the congratulatory messages poured in. Flowers arrived; friends texted; family members called. I went out to dinner with my husband and daughters. We had champagne.

            Today everyone is back at work. Books have been bought, but will the wave of readership roll into the general population? Is this when the wave I’ve been riding crashes onto the beach, thins out to foam and gets absorbed back into the ocean? Is this it?

            As I sip my coffee and watch the birds on my patio, I think about all this. While the wave going back into the ocean is anti-climactic and indeed, a little scary, it is the way it has to be. Otherwise, how would another wave get its chance to rise? Another wave, if I let myself find a rhythm to this new milestone, that will rise and maybe, just maybe, I’ll catch it for another ride of a lifetime?

            Then, two words that were once said to me by a great literary agent, Mr. Ken Sherman, popped up on the horizon of my thoughts:

Be Fearless

            Now is the time to be fearless; to step into the bend around the mountain and to let this wave find its next destiny.

            The question, Now What? Has been turned into the answer of “That’s what: Be Fearless.” And let the journey continue.