What's on your list of wins?

November first was a big deal around here. My thriller, The Five Year Lie, hit number one in the entire Amazon store for audio books.

To celebrate, my friend and I went out for burgers, poutine and Vermont cider. Then we dropped by one of our favorite stores. Farmway in Bradford Vermont sells all of life’s essentials: shoes, clothes, wool socks, maple syrup, horse tack, chicken feed, and cheddar cheese.

My friend said “what could be more on-brand for us than celebrating a major milestone at Farmway?”

She’s right. It didn’t even cross my mind to celebrate with caviar and champagne. Even if this victory was made especially sweet by how risky this book felt when I decided to write it. New genre! New audience! New narrative tricks!

Plus, it took me at least twice as long to write as a romance. I didn’t know if anyone would read it. And now it’s breaking personal records for me. Yay, risk!

The truth, though, is that lots of risks don’t pan out. Failure is also my constant companion, and that’s fine, because you don’t get to count the wins without racking up a large number of losses. If there’s one thing I want my kids to understand, it’s this.

The upshot, though, is that you have to celebrate the big wins and the tiny ones when they happen. I have a page in my planner for each month, and it’s just labeled “celebrations.” That’s where I write down the things that went right. Because if I don’t track these, then who will? The world is full of people who are ready to tear us down. (Hi, one-star reviews! I see you!) It’s up to us to consciously counterbalance the negativity.

My next win on the list will probably be something small, like no cavities at the dentist, or spelling “accommodate” right on the first try. But I’ll take it.

So what’s on your list of wins this month? No win too small…