There isn’t a better compliment on the planet than this.

I was at a book signing, having just spoken to attendees about how I got to where I was with writing, and how I put some of my stories together. We got to the end, when folks bought books and came up to speak, and one woman blurted that out. “You look like you love what you do.”

I get that a lot.

The other line I get is, “You are living the life.”

But what amazes me is that people talk about it like it was all luck. Or that that what I do is completely outside their reach.

When I speak to writers, I tell them to embrace writing. Set goals. Study writing. Read lots of books. Live the writing life. It isn’t supposed to fall into your lap. You carve your way.

You write…a lot. You edit…a lot. You seek guidance. You pitch and you cast aside rejection as nothing more than an educational step toward publication, learning from the stumbles.

Writing made me so happy that I set up a plan to write fulltime. It is not easy. Those were lean years. Luckily I had a spouse who believed in me, though I like to think I picked him out, so I can take some credit for that as well.

However, nobody successful becomes successful by pure luck. They do it with a long-range plan, a vision, and diligence in getting there.

I do not measure my success by dollars in the bank. While I can tell you every cent I’ve ever made per month back to the year 2000, that’s not what made me happy. It was bylines, reader feedback, reviews, and the self-satisfaction that came from owning what I wanted to be.

Yes, you can do it. I didn’t publish my first book until age 56, and I wear that proudly, too.