I chatted with someone famous yesterday...

Famous and very successful in his field. Which happens to be my field.

Have you ever talked to someone who's made it, and gotten sound, unabashed advice that you just know will change your life forever?

That's what happened yesterday.

See, there's this writer who's books I love. He's hilarious and smart and crazy (good crazy). Lots of people love his books. That's why he's famous.

Anyway, yesterday I found that he and I had included in recent stories the same strange idea (Something that's not at all uncommon in this business of writing. Once you start talking to other writers, you find out that a lot of the time, you're working on very similar things.) And I off-handedly wrote him an email talking about it. I told him no one was buying my story and marveled at how his was most likely sold before he began writing it. I didn't expect him to answer me.

But he did.

He told me stuff that I needed to know about what I'm doing with my writing career. Really smart stuff. He basically told me how to go about becoming successful. He was totally cool about it, too. Not a single condescending word. He gave me succinct, direct advice. Something that, coming from him, I'll listen to.

And so.

I've decided to finish the novel I was working on two years ago when I thought I should start selling short stories to build up a fanbase and a platform and develop a name for myself and all that stuff I thought I should do. I'm going to give short stories a rest. I'm sure a flash or two will work their way into life, but the majority of my time will now go toward finishing that book.

I have some short stories out there in circulation.

I have some that never sold. I think I'll leave them alone for a while.

Here's what I plan to do now: Finish my humorous urban fantasy novel. Find an agent based on my novel's greatness. Get it published. (While that's happening, write another. Then another.) Make a living. Become famous. Make a fabulous living. No more small dreams.

Encouragement is welcome.

Discouragement will be ignored.

THANK YOU, famous, successful writer. You'll get a signed copy of my first novel. Hell, you'll be in the acknowledgements, for sure.

THANK YOU to the two years I spent honing my writing, getting my chops. Thank you to all the stories that sold, and all the ones that will stay saved until after I've got some books out there across the world.

THANK YOU to all the stories in my head that would have been shorts, but will now be novels, or at least bits of them.

THANK YOU.