Don’t worry about being a bestseller. Really. Don’t.
I love going to watch the Reno Aces play. I look forward to it all year. We try to go to a game every week all summer.
I love rooting for the home team. I love ballpark hot dogs. I love the fireworks if we go on Friday. I love hanging out in the sun, sharing a bag of peanuts with my family.
Tonight, I watched these men play and I had a thought:
I hope they let themselves really, truly, fully fall in love with the fact that they’re living what was probably their dream since childhood. They are making a living playing baseball.
I hope they (the baseball players) don’t get so caught up in wishing they were playing for the major leagues that they can’t be fully present in their bright and shining moment.
This is an Advance Reader Copy of my book, The Astonishing Maybe.
Just before we left for the game, the Fed Ex guy delivered a big old package full of these babies (above).
Look look look look look….
MY BOOK
The one I wrote during my MFA program. The one I sold last summer to MacMillan — a major publisher of children’s books — so now I can be a writer for a while.
Will I be a bestseller? Will my middle-grade book be the next big thing? Will someone want to make a movie out of it? Will I be a gozillionaire?
Meh…
The honest, most reasonable answer is — probably not.
But I’m going to enjoy the ride anyway, and try not to get too caught up in obsessing over whether or not I’ll ever be called up to the Big Show.
This is what I want for you.
I want you to take and live your life right now. I want you to do something that you want to do — just for yourself — even if you don’t make one cent for it.
If you want to write — I would like to help you.
I’m giving away three signed copies of my Advance Reader Copy. Each winner gets lifetime access to the DIY version of my year-long novel writing course. This writing course is the exact method I used to write my new book, “The Astonishing Maybe.”
Just enter here to win. You’ll get a special URL that will get you three extra entries for every one of your friends who signs up using it. So make sure to Tweet that shizz out of the URL:)
Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She lives in Reno with her husband, three superstar kids, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation and Rebel Nation and the upcoming novel The Astonishing Maybe. She is the original Ninja Writer.
