Your Own Name . . . Your Own Story

I once asked my nine-year-old son how his day went at school. He had an important project to turn in, as important as a fourth grade project can be, and he'd worked hard on it.

"Fine," he said, never one for embellishments.

Eager for details about how my eldest son has bested his class or amazed the teacher, I asked, "How did you do compared to everyone else?"

"I don't know," he said. "I was only worried about mine."

I'll remember that lesson till the day I leave this earth. A young boy, educating his mother on what was most important. All too often, we rank our success based on others' achievements . . . others' goals instead of our own. That's a no-win race.

Our goals should not be to write as well as your favorite best-selling author. There's nothing wrong with analyzing his work and learning from his prowess, but we don't want to be Stephen King the second or Tess Gerritsen, Junior. The last thing we want is to be compared to JK Rowling or James Patterson.

We want others to be compared to us.

Groom yourself instead of striving to be someone else. Set your goals. Write your story. Publish it your way. Sell as many as you want . . . or as few. Put your own name on writing success, and be happy with who you are.