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Peace

Finally getting to the fifth "P" in my five "p's" to publishing...(in reality, I've found that they work for pretty much any goal you want to achieve).

The first four "P's" were 1. Purpose 2. Passion 3. Perseverance 4. Patience...and now Peace.

What do I mean by having peace when working toward a goal? It's similar in some ways as to having patience. We tend to have to be patient to see our goals come to fruition. After all, it is the journey not the destination where we find a lot of joy. However, the difference in having patience versus peace along the way is that patience obviously implies waiting. Peace on the other hand is a sense within ourselves. When I've written a book and have made the decision that it's ready to be sent off to my agent, editor or out into the world, I have to sit back and realize that I have to be comfortable with that decision. It's important that I conclude I've done my best work, I'm happy with it and I'm ready to release it. This is a gut thing. We all know when we've done our best and when we haven't. I admit that I did put a book out a few years ago that I knew wasn't my best work and I was uneasy about it. I published it independently and had felt pressure to get another book out and I caved under the pressure. After a few months, I knew I needed to take that book off of all the publishing platforms and rewrite certain scenes, add a few chapters and do some more editing. Only after I had done that did I feel the sense of peace that I think is needed when trying to achieve our goals. That particular book has never gone on to be a bestseller, but, I'm satisfied that it is now the best I could write it at this point and so I can have peace of mind in letting it go out into the hands of the readers. Being at peace with something is a great feeling. Even with something small like cooking a meal for my family. I really enjoy cooking so I always set out to do my best and when I set food out on the table it's nice to have a sense of peace that I'm feeding good, healthy food to my family. Granted... it's not until I hear the words, "This is good, Mom," that I breathe a sigh of relief and that peaceful feeling comes over me.

Having peace in your work, in your life, in the small things is about doing the best that you can in all that you do. Some days that's easier than others, so we can't be too hard on ourselves when we flap. I've been guilty of a frozen pizza for dinner here and there (and, I am not admitting to the occasional In N Out Burger, although I have it on good word that extra crispy fries there might be really great...with animal sauce)...and as I said in a more important goal...not putting out my best book.

There you have it... my five personal "P's" to achieving.  Hope you've enjoyed it.

Next week, I'll be doing something different...possibly posting new chapters, old chapters, ruminating on whatever I want. That's the nice thing about having a blog, you can write what you want. I'm not sure anyone reads this blog and that's okay. Keeps me writing anyway and I'm at peace with that. :)

Have a wonderful week!

Cheers,
Michele

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