Friday, April 17, 2015

Hope Isn't Enough

Hello! I'm Pippa Jay, author of scifi and the supernatural with a romantic soul. And this month I had to think up a blog post on hope. Hmm...

I hope for a lot of things in life. I hope that my books will do well and people will buy and like them. I hope my family will live long and prosper, and that we never have to face heartbreaking decisions or great tragedies. I hope somebody will read this blog post!

But hope isn't enough. If there are things you want, you also have to work for them. I believe in luck and fate, but I also know you can't just sit back and wait for things to happen - you have to put some effort into them and hope that good things will follow (because no matter how hard you work, sometimes it just doesn't pay off). After 2014 got off to a really bad start for me on both the personal and publishing side, I was almost ready to quit the whole writing/publishing thing. I didn't. For one thing I'm too stubborn (and being stubborn, or perhaps determined is a better word, is one key characteristic you need to make it as a published author). One quote I always use when asked what advice I'd give an aspiring author is from the comic scifi film Galaxy Quest, used by Commander Quincy Taggart: "Never give up, never surrender!" Sometimes that's the only thing that has kept me going when things were tough.

So rather than pinning my hopes on...well, hope..., I do what I can to ensure my hopes become reality. I write the best books that I can, and pay out for good editing and cover art on those I self publish. I make sure my family eat healthily, get some exercise and fresh air, and see the doctor whenever something doesn't seem right. We have back up plans and a bit of money put aside in case of emergencies. Aside from that, you can only hope because we can't control everything in life. But I don't rely on it to fulfill all my dreams.

What do you hope for?

In the meantime, I hope you'll check out my books at my website - psst, I have a new release on the 22nd, my YA dystopia Zombie Girl: Dead Awakened - and my EPIC finalist YA scifi adventure Gethyon is 25% off at CoffeeTimeRomance for the whole of April. Enjoy!

4 comments:

Judith Ashley said...

I totally agree with you, Pippa. Hope without action isn't going to get one anywhere. Action doesn't have to be karate kicks. Action can be using your head and thinking things through or going with your gut or following your hunch.

Sending positive thoughts for mega-sales on your new release - I'm not a vampire book fan much less reader so I just can't get the words "awesome cover" out.

Unknown said...

I agree with both Pippa and Judith. Hope may get you started, but it's kind of passive after that. Dreams are nice, but goals are what puts you on the road to realizing the dreams, e.g., "winning the lottery" probably isn't a very realistic choice for a retirement plan, but saving a little money each week is.

Diana McCollum said...

Loved your post and couldn't agree more on using action to achieve your goals. Good luck on sales!

Pippa Jay said...

Thanks Judith. Lol, yeah, the zombie cover is...striking? :P

Yup, dreams need to be backed up with action to become reality.

Thanks Diana!