What motivates you to do what you do everyday?

What does success look like to you?

One winter day after telling a bedtime story to my kids, with the wind howling outside, I sat down and made a decision. Though I had never thought of myself as a writer, in that moment I decided that I wanted to write a book for my family. I quickly jumped in with both feet. After hours of listening to podcasts about how to write, hours of working through details, hours of researching what past authors have learned… after 90,000 words, 2 months of writing, 2 months of editing, searching for artists, designing concept art, finding mood board photos for every character, building my own maps, hundreds of hours of fun and laughter and dreaming, lots of praying, I have in my hands the work of my labor. A labor of love.

After all the hours of hard work and months of evenings spent after my day job was done. What did success look like for me?

Two weeks ago I held in my hands 3 books, clean and crisp, fresh off the press. Within the pages, I took the time to write from my heart some special notes. Then, individually, I asked each of my three kids to come into my office. I told them how much they supported me, how much they encouraged me, how much this book couldn’t have happened without them. How much I appreciated their prayers. Seeing the look of wonder on their faces, the heart warming smiles seeing them read their message from me… In that moment I had reached the success I was looking for. I knew that every step of the way beyond this would be ‘icing on the cake’ and an absolute blessing to me.

What does success look like to you? Is it money driven, or, is it relationship driven?

Me with my craftsman and map maker during the author photo shoot.