Who is Your Competition?

Competition in the Writing Life

Competition is a loaded word. It refers to many things, from competing for in sports or for a boy or girlfriend to competing for a job  or a promotion. I learned about competition from sports in school. Sports are all about winning, the “being a good loser” stuff is crap.

In my 20 years in business, competition was keen and the stakes rose from a winning high school team to promotions, raises, new jobs, the means to visit the Caribbean in the winter.

Competition is like a race. In a race, if you break your focus to check on how the runner on your right or the runner on your left is doing, you will lose. But keep your focus, your concentration, on the finish line, give it your all and you have an excellent chance of winning.

I don’t compete with other people, I compete with myself. I push myself to write more, write better, learn more about writing, edit my stuff better than I did last time. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing, what matters is what I’m doing and am I doing my best each and every day? The finish line? The best book I can write.

In the romance genre, readers read an average of three books a month, plenty of books to have room to buy and read one of mine and many by other authors as well. 

Other writers, other books are not my competition...I am my competition. Can I come up with a better, stronger story? Can I write a tighter manuscript? Can I make it more compelling, with more sexual tension and more conflict than my last book?

Each of my books is better than the one before. Currently I’m beating the “competition”. And that is enough to make me smile any day of the week.

Who is your competition? 

Get "Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights" ebook at:
Amazon
Nook
Astraea Press (all formats)

A little bit about the book: 
Caroline “Sunny” Davis has it all, a rich husband, career as a well-known artist and a big, beautiful house, she has everything except happiness. Fleeing from a philandering husband, she returns to her family’s cabin in the woods. Looking to reconnect with happier times while she sorts out her life, Sunny is surprised to meet up with someone she hasn’t seen in twenty years.

Mike Foster, her friend, her protector from childhood is more handsome and devastating than ever. Tempted almost beyond endurance, can she resist him…if it’s for his own good? This story about rekindled friendship will warm your heart.