Never Give Up, Never Surrender...

The mantra of Galaxy Quest is Never Give Up, Never Surrender.

If you haven't seen the movie, you should, it's HILARIOUS!

The cast is amazing, including Tim Allen (Arh Ar Arh), Sigorney Weaver(Aliens), Tony Shalhoub (Monk) and believe it or not Alan Rickman (in my 3rd fave character roll of his!) and not to mention very young Sam Rockwell and Justin Long. It's a spoof on Sci-Fi shows & movies. So, go watch it. Then tell me what you think.

Anyway, I've said this mantra over and over many times since the movie came out in 1999. And guess what? It WORKS!

You should never give up on a dream.

My dream, long ago, was to be the next Debbie Gibson. As I got older and realized it wasn't going to happen for me, I found a new dream. Acting! Problem is, I can't act. Okay, so then in early 2001 I rediscovered my love for writing. Granted, I've been writing in one form or another since I was in elementary school: poems, stories, and even a Unicorn Video Game! I didn't take any of it seriously until I finished my first shore story from beginning to end. Then I wrote a novel. Then another. I was hooked.

The first novel-which I don't talk about much-was decent, for the time, but overall, horrendous. I didn't know JACK SQUAT. So, I remedied that, joined writers groups, did my homework on queries, agents, publishers, etc, and learned, learned, learned as much as possible.


Novels 2-3 probably will never see the light of day.

Novels 4 & 5 are Tiva's. I originally found a publisher in 2005 but the company went under. Now, it's back in the revision & query stage after 50+ rejections.

Novel 6 is Lucky's Charm. I'm not lying to you when I say I have a spreadsheet of over 100+ rejections. After getting feedback from many agents, publishers, and writer friends, I revised it while writing other works. After the revision, I went back and submitted once more. Worked out well because I found a home for Lucky at Wild Child Publishing.

Novel 7 turned out to be 3 separate novellas, two of which are out now from Tease Publishing.

Novel 8 was a dud, a NaNo project I never finished.

Novel 7 is MIND:The Beginning. When I was through with this novel, I thought I had a gem and was VERY excited to start querying. I submitted it to the bigger publisher thinking I had it in the bag! Not quite. More rejections. So I went back, revised a bit, found smaller publishers that I liked and submitted again. Within a few weeks of the second submission round, I had another contract, this one from Crescent Moon Press!

Here it is TEN YEARS later. I have three novellas out now (one on the way), and two novels coming out next year (each with sequels in the works). I have a nice following on Twitter and Facebook. I've been through the editing process with different editors, each time learning more which ultimately helps me write better. While I'm starting out small, as many authors do, I'm building a platform for my writing but more importantly growing as a writer.

Some people say it's easier to get published today than it was ten years ago. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, it all depends on what your goals are and how you want to go about fulfilling them. I never started writing to be the next NY Times Best Selling Author (Though I'll take it one day!), it was just a dream of mine that I needed and wanted to see through to fruition. I may not make millions of dollars writing, but I'm writing and I'm getting paid for it!

I never gave up.

I almost said "I SURRENDER" a bunch of times over the years, but never did.

Don't psych yourself out by making unrealistic goals, but do everything in your power to improve what you need to so you have the best chance of achieving them!

Don't give up your dreams.