Mister M with the munching mouth and Mr. T with the Tall Teeth (not the gold chains)

I don’t remember as much about kindergarten as I’d like, but for the most part, what I do remember is good. My teacher was phenomenal. She made me feel like I could do anything, and nicely explained when I asked why I couldn’t call her Jane. Mister M with the munching mouth was also a highlight, along with the rest of the letter people. I had a few embarrassing moments that I’ll leave off the internet, but one thing I do remember is my favorite song – Rhinestone Cowboy by Glen Campbell. (It beat out Up, Up and Away by the 5th Dimension and Top of the World by the Carpenters.)During an odd bout of nostalgia and self-reflection brought on by multiple deadlines and the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, I decided to listen to the song again. In 1975, all I could sing was “Like a rhinestone cowboy, riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo…” If you want to read the lyrics, here they are as per Google.

Of course, I associated the lyrics with my writing. It’s been such a long road trying to be a writer. I feel guilty about neglecting my wife and my daughter. I wonder about what my neighbors think about the condition of my lawn. I collect twenty dollar royalty checks and sacrifice precious vacation time to keep chasing my dream. I see cool query contests on Twitter, and I wonder if I will ever find an agent. I even calculate how many books I can write in a year, and I’ve determined that unless I learn how to hit the accelerator, I’ll never write all the ones that I want to write unless I live to 200.

After all that thought, I wrote over 1500 words of The Darker Lord today. 🙂

I’m so thankful for everyone who has read my books, but I’m equally thankful for all the people who haven’t read anything that I’ve written who hear that I’m an author and go home and try to follow their dreams. Everyone who has ever been successful seems to say that we should do what we love. I’d like to do that full time, but I have bills and a mortgage, and I’m fond of health insurance, but I agree with the sentiment. So, there may still be loads of compromising on my personal road to my horizon, but I can’t say that I regret any of it. And that feels as good as any light shining down on me.