We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful?

It's a Morrissey kind of day. :-)

This morning, one of my friends emailed me about selling a story to a pro market. I critiqued this story, and I'm very happy for my friend. It's a damn fine story and deserves publication. I've now critiqued 3-4 different stories for other beginning career authors that ended up as pro sales. As you all know, I'm still working on making my first sale.

Am I envious? Am I angry that some of my peers have achieved what I so desperately desire?

No.

This used to be a problem for me. I'm a competitive monkey. In my youth, being the "best" was extremely important to me. That's one of the reasons why I self-combusted at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. I couldn't deal with being an average student.

So what changed? Caitlin.

In her first couple of years, we fell into the trap of comparing her development with the other girls. It became clear to us after a point that this was madness. Every girl with Aicardi syndrome is different. By the time Cait turned 2, we learned to just be happy with Cait's successes and not worry about if she was doing as well as another child her age.

I now apply that lesson to my life. My career will develop in its own way. I can't worry about what my peers are doing. Their successes don't actually affect my writing. All I can control is my own work. All I can do is apply myself to becoming the best writer I can be.

I'm extremely happy about my friend's sale. If I work hard enough, maybe I'll be sending a similar email to him/her in the near future. :-)