Worth the Wait

Patience is a virtue...okay, whatever you say! I'll be the first to admit that when I want something, I want it now. That's not to say that I don't have patience. It has become one of my better "learned" qualities. Writing novels and publishing them takes years. The average time span to write a book is a year, add the months it takes your agent to sell it, and another year to eighteen months for it to see the light of day at Barnes and Nobel...you see where I'm going with this. *Deeeep breath* Patience.

Why? Because some things are just worth waiting for––your soul mate...a sunrise...that friend you know you'll never find in anyone else. Or maybe it's a child you're struggling to adopt, and you're stuck waiting and wondering what will happen next. The waiting is never easy, is it? At least not for me, but I'll do it again and again if necessary because the rewards are ten-fold.

So, my question for you is this: What is it that you're waiting and wanting for? A funny thing happens when we put our intentions out into the Universe...good things start to happen. I remember the first time I had the courage to say I was a writer to a small group of women that I was dining with. I said it while looking down at my salmon and barely louder than a whisper, but I did say it. That was a big step for me. After all, I had only gotten a piece or two published at the time...and the thought of me writing a novel? A shy girl, who, after one too many moves dropped out of school, a girl who had few skills, but could type a little, who went to work as a secretary at age seventeen to help support her mom who was sick and on disability. A young woman, who, at barely twenty-one had gotten married so that she'd finally have a rock...someone to hold onto, a woman who's world came crashing down when, at the age of twenty-nine, she learned that she and her two children were HIV positive. Funny, but it was the most devastating thing in my life that changed my life ultimately for the better...I became determined to pass a better legacy onto my children. For the first time, I got it. This was my life and with God as my guiding force, anything I could hope for was possible. I had to go for it. I had to survive what was then considered unsurvivable. More than anything, I wanted to see my children grow-up. I wanted them to be healthy. God answered my prayer in a bigger way than I could have imagined. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want or need. Prayers are answered every day.

But it takes courage to set your dreams into motion, and who was I to think that I could be an author? That was crazy. So what. I put it out there anyway.

What I'm trying to say, is own your desires....whatever they are and no matter how impossible they seem–taking small steps now to make something bigger happen up the road can change your world for the better. Is there work and planning involved? Sure. For me personally, I had to go back to school. I had to grow. I had to learn to be open and trust my instincts. I had to learn to believe in myself. Not everything we need or want is going to happen over night...in fact, the best things rarely do. But we've all heard the old adage, that some things are worth the wait. It's so, so true.

I know that many of you are getting eager to read my debut novel, The Silence of Mercy Bleu. I just want to say thank you for all your kind words and support on what has been quite an incredible journey...worth the wait, for sure!