Rolling With The Punches

I woke up this morning to my power being out. It was unexpected—there was no storm or wind, no construction, no reason for the power to be out. It simply was. 

We’ve prepared for this by purchasing a generator. Although my house is usually in the neighborhood “sweet spot” where everyone but us loses power, after a couple of times where that sweet spot failed us, we decided the time had come to purchase a generator. We bought it at the beginning of hurricane season and have been testing it every month to make sure it’s working. In fact, our last test was on Saturday.

So I’m using the generator and I can do what needs to get done, and I have access to coffee. I can’t do laundry and I can’t leave the house with the generator on, so I have to adapt a little. Despite the best-laid plans, stuff happens.

It’s the same thing with launching a book. I’ve written and edited and sent it out into the world. I arranged for people to review it. I’ve nagged the world to buy it. And as prepared as I am, I can’t control ultimately what happens. Sure, I’ve gotten some great reviews, but inevitably, someone’s going to dislike it. There’s no pleasing everyone. 

I happened to wake up to a great review, so that put a smile on my face. But I went to bed after reading about how someone else didn’t finish my book because they didn’t like it enough. Again, despite the best-laid plans, stuff happens.

At some point today, my power will be back on. My neighbor’s yard will be patched—apparently, in order to fix MY power, they have to dig up THEIR yard—and life will go back to normal. My book sales will hopefully reflect the effort I’ve put into launching this book. And I’ll get back to writing the next one. 

I’m rolling with the punches.

And maybe I should offer my neighbor some homemade cookies and a copy of my new book. J