Send Backup!

~ My first official book signing is this coming Friday (July 22nd at Stardust Video and Coffee in Orlando. FL). I’ve blogged enough about marketing and selling and blah..blah.., so I won’t get too much into all of that here. Having said that, the amount of support I’ve been getting from family, friends and fans of the book is astounding. While I don’t expect that there will be helicopters flying over or police directing traffic, I have seen a continuing uptick in the amount of people that are coming to the signing. I'm incredibly thankful for the support from family and friends, and it's really cool to see that people are coming that I don't even know (but are fans of the book). As I keep getting notifications this week of new guests planning to attend, something becomes more apparent to me than ever:

As people, we need backup. You can be as independent as you want to be (and that’s great) but, no matter how good you are at writing, painting, football, golf, stamp collecting, doing laundry, etc.. No matter how fulfilled you are personally by that… You need the support (backup) of a friend, a family member, a colleague, an acquaintance, even an online connection, someone, anyone. Why? Because the amount of personal satisfaction you get by what you do is elevated tenfold by the support and encouragement of someone other than yourself. It's not that we need validation as much as it is just knowing that other people care about what you are doing. Maybe being an artist, it's even more important to know this. I’ve been so fortunate to have specific people encourage me along the way, and it's made me more aware of how encouraging I am to others that may be creating and/or chasing (and obtaining) their dreams. So, whether you are getting support for your own efforts or not, take some time to encourage others. It'll make you feel great, and it will come back around.Thank you all for your continued support! Oh, and "The Ties That Bind" is developing nicely. It's going to an awesomely disturbing story. Cheers!