It's Saturday. Practice Saying YES to Yourself

It's the weekend, but if you're like most authors, you won't stop thinking about your book, your dreams, your interview with Oprah, or that one sentence that haunts you. But the work of publishing? Why ruin a good Saturday with all that reality? Publishing and marketing your book successfully, against all odds and against the mega publishing world, is possible -- I see it every day. I found this quote yesterday and was pondering it all evening:

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." ~Mark Twain

The concept must be in the air. Just like every morning, I opened my email and went straight to Seth Godin's blog. If you don't read it, you should. He's the guru of building the modern "Tribe", and so many other thought-leading principles of our culture. (click here for Seth Godin's blog). His posts are what I call "consumable". He provides one nugget to digest all day. In his post today he said:

"There will always be someone telling you that you're not hip enough, famous enough, edgy enough or whatever enough. That's their agenda. What's yours?" ~Seth Godin

Two great thought leaders a century apart; one important message pushing its way into today's consciousness. Today, think about what "success" in publishing actually means to you in both dollars and "sense". Then start making a realistic plan -- set a goal, plan a strategy, develop a list of tactics, put together a team that understands your goals. Above all, don't let people who are not experts discourage you and put their own agendas in the way of yours.