I would by lying if I said I didn’t want to place in the National Indie Excellence Awards contest for authors. This morning’s butterflies told me so; I had received an email the day before letting me know the winners and finalists would be announced today. I have a bit of a competitive spirit about me and was hopeful that Beneath the Mimosa Tree would receive a positive reception from the judges.
It did. I am a finalist for romance. The winner in the category is Bonnie Trachtenberg, a lovely lady I met in Miami in November when we accepted our medals at the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards. I am honored to be in the same category as she is, as I am equally honored that the book received additional recognition.
LL Cool J. Photo credit: Biography.com.
And it all has to do with LL Cool J.
Did you not know that LL Cool J is a wealth of inspirational knowledge in the field of goal-setting?
His memorable quote, and the one I am referring to, goes like this:
Stay focused, go after your dreams, and keep moving toward your goals.
The wisdom of LL Cool J.
I’ve followed this particular guideline for my life. The idea of submitting the novel for awards came to me only after having watched other independent authors strut their stuff and attempt to get noticed. I watched what they were doing and then tried to do the same.
I’ll never forget the dialog I had with my husband the day after I published the novel and it went up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
“So, what do you want to happen to this book?” he asked.
“I want people to read it,” I said.
“How many people?” he asked.
I had no number to offer.
And so, we try to set a goal. We decide to tackle the marketing of our novel. We have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Pinterest, and through this blog, which I set up to communicate with readers of all walks of life. We attend book club discussions and book talks & festivals. We enter our books in contests. We do what we can. We try as we might to fulfill LL Cool J’s philosophy about goals. And still we want people to read our novel, for what are writers without readers?
Beneath the Mimosa Tree has received two awards. I’m pretty (LL) Cool (J) with that.
