How To Use The 98 & 3/4 Percent Advantage In 2012

‘And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.) – Dr Suess

There is no sure thing in life. I’m writing from real life experience.

So as you look at your last year’s efforts, how did the 98 and 3/4 percent advantage work out for you?

Well, while I’m asking you that question, I’m asking myself the same one.

So I trust you won’t mind if I  share some of my experiences from this past year.

Maybe something of what I share can help you as you face another exciting adventure in 2012.

• On December 22, 2010 I sold a web design business that had been very much a part of our family’s life for seven years. My two eldest children worked with me in that business.
• On December 24, 2010 I crashed my car when I hit an oil slick and ploughed head-on into a rock wall. On the day before Christmas I found myself in the back of an ambulance and spent some time in hospital for observation, but left relatively unscathed, except for a bruised calf muscle in my left leg. The car wasn’t so lucky.
• In January we purchased two new vehicles, dispersed the finances received from the sale of the business and embarked upon the purchase of a hair salon in which my youngest daughter would manage. The purchase was finalised in March.
• From December 2010 onwards I embarked upon the rebranding of my Motivational Memo blog under the tutelage of a blogging coach and created my first online course entitledSelf Development Mastermind.
• In March of this year I travelled around my state and spoke 18 times in 14 cities throughout a two week period.
• I guest posted all over the blogosphere and created a whole new set of blogging friends along the way,
• I still held on to my web design business website, and with the assistance of my web designer did some selective design work for some new clients. In November I finally decided that web design was not to be part of my future and disbanded my team.
• I analysed what I had been doing in the writing field these past 13 years and was amazed to discover that I had written a book a year during that period. Some published in hard copy and sold, some ebooks and some unpublished.
• I pulled out an old manuscript called The Creator which I had written more than ten years ago and launched it as an ebook to gauge a response from my blog readers. It was received with a lot of positive acclaim.
• I have since embarked upon the search for a literary agent. Scores of rejections have been received to this point, so I have continued to learn how to professionally present my work– and will go again with submissions into 2012.

So with all of that behind me , and as the year drew to an end, I started to ask myself seriously, and with much soul searching – what do I really want to do in 2012?

Was I to restart my web design business? I still had the website and had been approached on a number of occasions, throughout the previous 12 months, by a number of my old clients who were not happy with the service being provided by the new owner.

Or would I continue to develop my blogging as a professional blogger and online business?

Or do I want to become a published author? I had already self-published three hard copy books and numerous ebooks – and I have carried, for many a year, the dream of being a published author by an international publishing house.

So this is what I have decided to pursue in 2012.

I am going to continue the personal pursuit of becoming a fully-fledged published author with his own literary agent and publisher. Now I know that these accessories are not necessary to become a successful author, and many people are selling ebooks and self publishing successfully. But I have already done all that with a level of success – and want more.

And what books am I going to develop further?

Well I have three in my sights…

The Creator

The Creator is an adult fiction novella that I have already pitched to over a hundred literary agents. Scores of rejection emails have been returned, so I decided to seek harder to find out how I could better present myself to literary agents – and go again in 2012.

I stumbled across Michael Hyatt who is the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and purchasedhis two ebooks on how to write a winning proposal – both fiction and non-fiction.

Since then I have reshaped my query letter along with a fresh synopsis.

I have also re-edited the material after receiving some feedback that I received when I  first launched it as an ebook.

I know that being a novella(a short novel) that there are many publishers who won’t want to look at such a short work – but even some of the greatest authors who have ever lived have published novellas – so why not me?

The Destroyer

This is another adult fiction novella that builds on The Creator.

It is the story of the long lost son of Adam and Eve – Cain. Now an old man he emerges as someone, who though marred from an early tragedy by committing the first murder ever recorded in human history, who seeks redemption. He does this by seeking to save a young man from committing the same mistake. But there will be a twist!

This novella is still being created, even as I write this blog, and will provide powerful insight into both change and influence that can occur in one lifetime.

Here’s a snippet to whet your appetite…

There is a darkness that is deeper than the darkest night. It is the darkness that resides within the heart of one who has had the flame of hope snuffed out by the choices that they have made in a past life.

 In a split second a destiny can be smashed against the rocks of wrong decisions if not correctly navigated through the channel of decisions that are placed before them on a daily basis.

 Cain was now an old man. The purple mark that covered half of his face made him an unmistakable feature on the landscape of the burgeoning human race.

 Most people who had such a mark would call it a birthmark, but Cain was already born before he had this mark placed across half of his face.

 It resembled the slap of a hand– as if the very hand of God had grazed his face. In one sense it was a death mark – and yet that mark would actually save his life while ever he breathed upon earth.

Angels In Darned Socks & Patched Trousers

Now for something completely different. Entitled Angels In Darned Socks & Patched Trousers, this is an adult non-fiction novel that is built around the story of my dad’s life – his first 25 years – and although I completed a draft in 2008 I am now going to work harder to bring it to a publishable standard.

I have just entered the first chapter in an international writing contest. I had to lose about 800 words so that it was below the required 4000 word limit that they requested, but I thought you might enjoy reading my first offering and would love to know what you think.

So with the push being towards publication of these three books in the days ahead there may be required some more rebranding along the way I guess. But for the moment I need to just keep writing.

My whole purpose in writing is to inspire – while ever being true to my craft, my gift, my passion, and the path as a writer for which I believe I have been born.

So what are my chances of success?

But more important – what are you planning to do in 2012, and what are your chances of success?

Well if Dr Suess is correct. I’d say about 98 and 3/4 percent.