I just returned from another trip to Memphis. Steve had meetings and a book signing. I got the opportunity to meet up with friends. One of my friends, Jenny, shared some wisdom which just keeps getting wiser the more I ponder it. She said, “Most choices we are asked to make have no right answers. For years I thought that there was a right answer and it caused me stress. But now I know that there is no right answer to most questions.”

At first I understood Jenny to mean the minor questions of life: Should we go to Sprouts or Fresh Market? Which is how she explained the concept to me. But after thinking about it for a while, I realized that nearly all the questions I agonize about are of this sort. They don’t really matter in the great scheme of things. Should I write a romance or an action adventure or both? It really doesn’t matter, just pick one and finish it. It’s more important to finish writing a bad action adventure or romance or SFF than to agonize about genre.

Obviously some questions are really important. ‘Should I marry Steve?’ was the most consequential (and best) decision of my life. But virtually all other decisions are less important.

At some point all the unimportant and important decisions all mound up and form the person I am. I carry in my wallet a quote given to me by James A. Owen at Superstars to remind me to make the best choices in the moment. It reads:

I should probably add to it Jenny’s wisdom to keep me centered and to keep me from expending too much energy on the choices that matter less.

Speaking of James A. Owen and the Superstars, that conference is about to up its prices. It runs in February and is my very favorite conference. It always offers a number of heavy hitters in writing and publishing with a fairly small body of attendants, which means that every person has the opportunity to interact with just about everyone. Best of all the instructors make an effort to eat and socialize with the rest of us. Prices go up on September 1. If you want a $100 discount, you can use my code: CAROLYN4629

While there is no right answer to the question of whether you should attend Superstars, any more than there is a right answer for anything else, for me the answer is always “Yes” because I get so much out of the experience.

Hope you are finding your balance between the choices that matter and those that don’t.

Be well, friends!