When Everything Isn't Coming Up Roses...

Okay, so my husband is a huge fan of sports. Football, basketball, hockey, baseball, golf, even bowling. But especially football. So a few weeks ago, he's reading this book about Vince Lombardi and we're sitting at my son's eighth grade recreational league basketball game, where they're in the race for first.

And I say, "I don't like how competitive sports are. It makes me nervous."

And he gets all giddy, and he's like, "I just read a quote on that. Here," and hands me the book.

Now, I don't read for educational purposes, but I read the passage from the Vince Lombardi book. I don't really remember what it said, but the gist was that competition makes us into men. (Or something.)

So as always, I relate this experience to my life. And right now, I'm doing the publishing thing, so that's where my mind goes.

I think we all know that just because someone has an agent, or a book deal, or whatever, doesn't mean they won't experience setbacks. Loss. Frustration. And/or disappointment.

Oh, the disappointment.

So I've had a rough couple of months, and a few weeks later, I'm sitting at the championship basketball game for my son, and they win. There's this big celebration, and parents are taking pictures, and my eyes are roaming this ghetto junior high gym, and what do I see?

A quote by Vince Lombardi:
I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.

And I thought, "YES! I am exhausted on the publishing field of battle. I have been victorious in the past. Can this be my finest hour? Can I be victorious again?"

I honestly don't know. But I'm determined to "work my heart out in a good cause" and see where it takes me.

I went home, and I'm taking these:

Some of you know my daughter did a lemonade stand for Valentine's Day.
We used 6 lemons to make the 1 cup of juice needed for the lemonade. I cut, she squeezed.

And I'm trying to make this:

This is my daughter's lemonade stand. I made a simple syrup to make that pink lemonade. It was delicious! And my favorite part of her sign? The happy face. It makes me smile every time.

Because sometimes life and publishing seems to throw nothing but lemons. We may feel like we're fighting the good fight. We're exhausted on the field of battle. And there's still only lemons.

There are a thousand reasons to be sour. But by taking a simple syrup, you can make that sour into something delicious.

And that's what I'm going to do.

So. Are you making lemonade right now? Fighting the good fight? Or are you just exhausted?

Also, do you like how I went from sports, to Vince Lombardi quotes, to publishing, to lemonade? Because that was an epic chain of thought. Ha!