Valentine’s Day was on February 12th this year. At least is was for me. My hubby left on an extended trip on the thirteenth so we moved Valentine’s Day up to the twelfth. Can’t do that, you say? Well, I’ve been moving holidays around all my life, and I can do whatever I want. When I was a kid, my father was a commercial pilot (Pan Am World Airways) and was seldom home for a holiday. So…my mother just moved the calendar around. He wouldn’t be home on December 25th ? Okay, Christmas would be on the 28th that year. No biggie. (Except for midnight mass)
Moving holidays is only one example of me thumbing my nose at nay-sayers, however. I’ve been doing the same kind of thing for my whole life. “You won’t do well in college” (that one came from both my guidance counselor and my father) No? I graduated in three and a half years in the top ten percent of my class. “You can’t be a stockbroker. You’re a woman!” Huh? I finally broke down the barred door of one firm and after twelve years had over 200 clients and managed a ten-person brokerage office. “You can’t get published. There are thousands, millions of people who are more creative than you, and they can’t get published. Why would you think you could?” Twelve books in the first four years and contracts for six more to come is my answer to that one.
I got to thinking this week that maybe being…uh…determined (my husband would say stubborn) is the secret to success in the publishing business. 
Maybe every aspiring writer should have someone tell them they CAN’T do it - - if that’s what it takes to make them dig in their heels just to prove everyone else wrong. In fact, somebody tell me I can’t make the New York Times Best Seller list —- Please! 
If you can’t comment today, just email me when you have time: LindaConradbooks@aol.com or visit: www.LindaConrad.com for comments, games and contests
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Reply From Your Husband
Determined? I think that understates you by several degrees! Stubborn? That is how I usually refer to your tenacity but even that doesn’t convey the full meaning of your ability to set a goal and then move whatever mountains happen to be between you and success.
You’re amazing and I love you for it.
by James Conrad
on February 18th, 2006 at 8:30 am
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Thanks, Honey! I love you too
Miss you!
Linda
by Linda Conrad
on February 18th, 2006 at 8:58 am
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Hello Ms. Conrad,
Thank goodness you are stubborn. It’s one thing to have an idea for a story and quite another to finish it up and get it published! I really enjoy your books and always look forward to the next one.
Working for the airlines for many years I know what it’s like to move the holidays around. Lucky for me I have a great husband that adapts very well. Once on a “big” birthday I was in a city far from home. When the van pulled up to the hotel, one of my co-workers pointed out a fellow in the lobby that looked just like my husband. It was! He had flown accross the country to surprise me. He even had cake and balloons!
Please keep the books coming. I think you’re the best!
by Susan Zyne
on February 18th, 2006 at 10:54 am
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If that isn’t THE most romantic story!! Sigh. What a doll you have for a husband, Susan! Give him a big hug for me! And thanks for the commercial about my books.:wink: I’ll keep writing if you’ll keep reading!
Linda
by Linda Conrad
on February 18th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
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Good for you. The best revenge is to live well and success doesnt hurt either. It must be a great to feeling to accomplish what they say you could never do.
by Pat
on February 18th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
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It’s not the ‘day’ but the spirit that counts! And I had a great day with you and all the other YaYa Sisters of the Divine Critiquing!
Carol Stephenson
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Hey good to ’see’ you here Pat! Not sure revenge is the right word for how I think of being determined to be all I can be. But I guess I am proud. I’ve kinda gotten used to being ‘underestimated’ over the years. I think it’s much preferable to not being able to live up to a big hype 
Thanks, Carol! Yeah it was a great day. And great company!
For anyone who doesn’t know, Carol Stephenson is one of my critique partners. She writes for Silhouette Bombshell (and she’s a lawyer - but we don’t hold that against her) 
Linda
by Linda Conrad
on February 18th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
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Linda,
That’s a great attitude you have. It’s that kind of thinking that allows you to advance in life and people should subscribe to that type of stubbornness. Being a musician, I should be like most and worry that I might not get chosen at an audition, but I think “Why not me?”. So now I go in there armed with confidence based on not much more than a determined kind of thinking. This has worked for me more than once. Keep up the great work!
by Edward Ellis
on February 18th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
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Thanks, Edward! I wholeheartedly agree. If someone is going to make it, why shouldn’t it be us? Right?
Keep your eyes on the prize and not on what other people think. It works!
Linda
by Linda Conrad
on February 18th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
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Yes, I think you are absolutely right about the necessity of being stubborn. I attribute getting published to just that — the absolute unwillingness to give up. I’ve always lived life as a challenge as well. I remember my mother once telling me that the nuns in my Catholic elementary school warned her not to underestimate me. I’ve always set high goals and been determined to accomplish them. So, I wonder about the flip side — maybe all this “self-esteem” stuff, telling kids how wonderful they are all the time — might have the opposite effect?
by Gail Barrett
on February 19th, 2006 at 6:15 am
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Good point, Gail. I hadn’t thought of it like that. But now that I consider it, I’m sure it depends on the child. Some kids really need a confidence booster, someone telling them that they can do whatever they want - - if only they want it badly enough. Don’t you think so?
Not all of us are born ’stubborn’
Linda
by Linda Conrad
on February 19th, 2006 at 9:20 am
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Yes, I guess revenge wasnt the best word to use. But I think you got what I meant. Am sure you are very proud of yourself and you should be.
by Pat
on February 19th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
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Linda your tenaciousness also led you to learn all about the business end of publishing. You combine the creative end with street smarts which means you write great books that sell!. An Agent’s dream client
by Linda's Agent Pattie Steele-Perkins
on February 20th, 2006 at 3:27 pm
