Having Enough Self-Confidence to Risk Failure

  In his recent documentary on Netflix, Martin Short, comedian, offered a startling statistic: “I’d say my career has been 80% failure, and I think that’s pretty good. To make it in this business [showbiz], you need talent and luck and persistence. But no matter how much you have, you won’t succeed unless you’ve got the self-confidence to get out there and fail.”

I don’t know if this is true in all aspects of life, but I suspect it’s true in all the arts (and many other fields).
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As a writer of fiction, memoir, and academic research, I take heart. It’s easy to despair. Sometimes I’m convinced that other writers are more talented, more fortunate, or more persistent, or that success comes to them more easily.

Now, when a rejection letter appears in my inbox or a negative review from a critic, I’ll remind myself, “That’s just part of the 80%. Keep aiming for the 20%.”

I often quote my former colleague at Vanderbilt, Germain Boer. “Never, never, never give up.”

Song of Sugar Sands is on sale now for $1.99 e-book version (regularly $8.99) and Joy After Noon will be on sale starting June 30 until July 6. I'm terrible at technology, so I won't promise my links will work, but maybe if you cut and paste . . . 
https://www.amazon.com/Song-Sugar-Sands-Book-ebook/dp/B07WPFJMX2 (limited time sale for kindle $1.99)

In my novel, Joy After Noon, Joy struggles with self-confidence, making her afraid to confront her husband with some concerns about their marriage.
​https://www.amazon.com/After-Noon-Sugar-Sands-Book-ebook/dp/B07P7S5Y7Z

Take heart and keep reading and chasing your dreams...