When January flipped the calendar page, I made a resolution. Break into a new market by the end of the month. With a clear slate and no looming deadlines, it seemed dead easy. I fired off three focused queries. The ideas were sound, but the market was really looking for writers with their own travel blogs to help cross-promote. Sigh.

The next day I was offered another children’s book title. I turned it down – sort of.

Less than a week before I was at a friend’s New Year’s Eve party. Chatting with one of the party-goers, I discovered that she was stay-at-home mom very interested in writing a children’s book… about hunting. Not my niche at all, but the conversation wound around to writing for kids in general. I had some resources to share, so we exchanged email addresses.

And then I was offered the book project. The topic was… hunting. I wasn’t interested in doing it, but I knew someone who would be. The only hitch was that she had never had anything published before. I convinced the editor that I could work with the new author to make sure the manuscript met the publisher’s needs.

And so, my first foray into editing – beyond editing my own work – unfolded. I would do this again in a heartbeat. The deadline was met, the manuscript was accepted, and the budding author is over the moon. Win, win, win!

No, it wasn’t the path I had projected at the start of the month, but I’m thrilled with the new direction.

“Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success.”
– Denis Waitley